Part 14 (1/2)
Vau made a noise in his throat that sounded remarkably like Mird's gargling objection to being moved from the sofa. ”I'll start knitting,” he said. ”Obviously the Force wasn't with her.”
n.o.body asked who the father was. The romance was hardly a secret: even Delta knew.
”She's on Qiilura until she gives birth,” Skirata said. ”And n.o.body says a word to the boys.”
”Not even us,” Mereel muttered.
”No, Mer'ika, not even you. Because then you can't accidentally put your great big boot in it, like the general just did.”
”Sorry.” Jusik hung his head. ”I thought at least the Nulls would know.”
”Okay, I'll brief the rest of them,” said Skirata. ”But Darman doesn't know, and it stays that way until he's in a position to be able to ... well, process the news. At the moment, all he'd do is worry instead of keeping his mind on the job.”
”That's not fair on the man,” Vau said. ”Not if you think he is a man, and not some helpless kid. Or a simpleton.”
”Okay, mir'sheb, you got a better idea?”
Vau blinked a few times. ”No, I don't think any answer is the right one here, other than hindsight.”
”She wanted to give him a son, some kind of future. And smart move or not, I'm doing the same, so maybe it's my fault for putting ideas in her head.”
Jusik got up. ”I'd better go. Got to look legit by catching up with Vevut Squad.” He gave Skirata a pat on the back.
”Zey's talking about bringing Rav Bralor back to train more troopers in commando skills-if he can find her. You stayed in touch with your Cuy'val Dar colleagues, didn't you?”
”Some.” Skirata followed Jusik to the hatch, not wanting to be seen to rush him, but they had a lot to do now. ”If Zey thinks I'm trouble, he'll have a nasty shock if he gets Rav back. You know what Mando females are like.”
”I don't, actually, but I can guess ...”
”What training does he want done?”
”Covert ops.”
”Try Wad'e Tay'haai or Mij Gilamar, then. They'd be a bit more tolerant of the osik from the top. Not much, but at least Zey won't get a vibroblade in a sensitive spot if he uses the wrong fork at dinner.”
”Can you contact them?”
Skirata had already sought some a.s.sistance from Mandalore, including from some of those who'd vanished from the face of the galaxy at Jango Fett's behest to train the clone army in secret. Cuy'val Dar: those who no longer exist. It was ironic that those who no longer existed were now help-ing those who didn't exist for the Republic, not as men at least.
”Leave it with me,” said Skirata.
Jusik closed the hatch behind him. Mereel gave Ordo a wary look. ”So maybe I shouldn't tell you what Agent Wennen dug up, seeing as I can't be trusted to know we have a done-impregnated Jedi. ..”
”Knock it off, Mer'ika,” Skirata said. ”It's my fault, not Ordo's. So what did Besany turn up?”
”Something confirming that Palpatine is building alternative cloning facilities. Lama Su's message mentioned Coruscant, but she's found evidence that there's something happening on Centax Two as well. Lots of equipment, she thinks, and Arkanian Micro have had a lot of exemption licenses for 'medical' cloning.”
”Palpatine wants direct control of clone production, and so he wants his own scientists like Ko Sai. He's edging, the Kaminoans out of the picture.”
”And if he doesn't pay for the next Tipoca contract, clone production will have to switch to a new source at that time.”
Ordo had been very quiet up to then. Skirata chalked it up to some emotional issue in the conversation with Besany that he wasn't prepared for.
”So what happens to the clones on Kamino at the moment? The ones who aren't yet mature? And where's the Coruscant facility?” No, Ordo had been war-gaming in his head. Besany seemed to have been forgotten as soon as he handed back the comlink. ”Is he getting the equipment from Kamino? No, because the gihaal would know he was getting ready to leave them high and dry. Is he having incompletely matured clones moved to Coruscant, or is he starting from scratch again? If so, he has a ten-year lead time to worry about. At the current rate of loss, he won't have an army left in five years, let alone ten.”
”Unless he's not going to use Kamino technology,” said Mereel. Mird made an exceptionally loud noise of escaping wind, and he stared at the creature. Vau didn't seem bothered. ”You have no cla.s.s, Mird, you know that?”
Vau looked at Skirata and muttered, ”Microtech.”
It was the one obvious alternative: Arkanian Microtech. Kaminoans did it best, but they did it slow. Arkanian cloning technology was very much faster-a year or two, maybe- though the results were nowhere near as good.
”So there should be clones reaching deployment maturity each year, but we're not seeing those numbers going into the ranks,” Skirata said. ”So what's the Republic planning to do with them?”
Vau shrugged. ”Maybe there's a problem with the quality. They ran out of fresh Jango.”
”Kamino certainly doesn't like the results of second-generation cloning,” Mereel said. ”I found that when I sliced their research the first time.”
”Well, maybe the Republic is in financial trouble, and it's happy with second-rate troopers,” said Skirata. He knew this was critical information, and that the men produced would be exploited slaves as deserving of help as his own boys. But he was impatient, imagining Delta already on Ko Sai's trail. First things first. ”Maybe Palps will have a new military strategy then. Numbers over quality. Either way, we don't want to be around when it happens.”
”Agent Wennen still hasn't found anything at all on how the Kaminoans were paid or whether there's anything in the budget in the next two years for another contract,” Mereel said, standing up. ”But she's going to carry on. As am I, be-cause we now have upgrades to fit to this fine vessel inside forty-eight hours.” He fixed Mird with an unsympathetic eye. ”Including a heavy-duty air freshener.”
”I told her not to take any risks.” Ordo sounded wistful.
”What did she say to that?” Skirata asked.
”She told me she'd stop taking risks when I did.”
”She's a good'un, son. Mandokarla.” Yes, Besany Wennen definitely had the right stuff, a Mando heart. ”She'll earn those sapphires.”
”And who told her I liked roba sausage?”
Mereel paused in the hatchway. ”That'd be me, Ord'ika ...”
Vau nudged Mird onto the deck and followed Mereel to start fitting the new weapons to the s.h.i.+p. Skirata was left with Ordo in the crew lounge, suddenly unsure what to say to him. They stood there so long in contemplation that the sound of banging and sc.r.a.ping began echoing through the hull as Mereel brought the hardware inboard.
”She'll be fine, Ord'ika” It was obvious he was worried about Besany getting caught. ”She's used to investigating fraud without anyone noticing.”
”She's close to investigating the Chancellor, Kal'buir. That's as dangerous as it gets in her line of work.”
”We'll pull her out at the first sign of trouble, I promise.”
”And do what?”
Events were overtaking Skirata at breakneck speed. Part of his mind was on whether Delta had what it took to beat them to Ko Sai-possibly, because Vau trained them-and part was worrying about Etain, whom he hadn't checked on for a day. He felt guilty for the way he'd bullied her.
And part of his attention was now on the fact that three people had put themselves at risk for his scheme, and might need to be moved to safety or given refuge very fast indeed. His plans for a safe haven, an escape route, had to be firmed up right away. He'd have to get hold of the Cuy'val Dar comrades he could most rely on.