Part 44 (2/2)
It took me a long time to understand that winning a war often has nothing to do with ending it, for governments at least.
-General Arligan Zey, Director of Special Forces, Grand Army of the Republic, on his recent interest in military history * * *
Kyrimorut bastion, northern Mandalore, 539 days after Geonosis I don't want you to get upset,” Vau said, ”but Fi's not as you remember him.”
Etain nodded gravely as they waited for Aay'han to land. Vau wasn't sure if an emotional shock was a good idea for a pregnant woman so close to term, but he had Rav Bralor here if any of that female stuff needed attending to. Mird followed Etain around, staring fascinated at her belly.
”He's still Fi, and I think I understand post-coma recovery now,” Etain said. ”You have no idea how much medical literature I've read recently. But Mird's worrying me.”
Bralor flicked her thumbnail against the b.u.t.t of her blaster, making Mird whip its head around to stare balefully at her. ”And I can worry Mird. Can't I, my little stinkweed?”
Vau felt the need to defend his comrade. ”Strills have very acute senses, remember. It knows the baby's coming soon.”
”As in snack opportunity?”
”As in parenting, Rav. Mird is hermaphroditic, remember.
It's capable of being a mother, too, and you know how fe-male animals will mother anything.”
”Even you, Walon ...”
Etain looked up at the first distant throb of a drive decelerating for landing. ”I really wish Darman knew right now. I really do.”
”Nearly there, kid,” Bralor said, squeezing her shoulders. ”There'll be a right time. Soon.”
But there was probably never a right time for her to see Fi again. Aay 'han settled on her dampers, ticking and creaking as the drives cooled, and the cargo hatch eased open. Jaing stepped out, steering Fi on a repulsor chair.
”I was just pa.s.sing through,” Jaing said, ”but this crazy Mando 'ad said he'd booked a vacation here.”
Etain didn't even pause. She rushed up to Fi, at a respectable speed for a woman laden with cargo, and flung her arms around him. But he didn't quite have the coordination to respond and simply flopped his arm over her shoulder.
He was wearing Ghez Hokan's armor, at least on his upper body. The leg plates probably needed extending; Hokan had been a much shorter man. Jusik understood motivation very well.
”We're going to have to feed you up,” Etain said. ”You're all bone now.”
”Fizz,” Fi said indistinctly.
”He means physiotherapy,” Jaing explained. ”You might struggle to understand his speech, but give him a stylus and he can manage to write a lot of what he can't say. He has to point to objects, too-he can't find the right words. Oh, and he forgets a lot. But for a dead man, he's doing great.”
Vau found it particularly cruel that Fi-a funny, eloquent lad-had been effectively silenced by the injury. But it was very early days. Bralor went over to fuss over him, too, but Fi had spotted that Etain had filled out rather a lot in the mid-section. He pointed.
Etain shrugged. ”Your eyesight's fine, then, Fi.”
”Neversssss...”
”I'll tell you later,” she said. ”Let's show you the presidential suite and see what the care droid can do.”
”It's okay, Fi.” Bralor took over. ”I'll be around, or else my sister's kid will. Proper Mando home cooking. That'll put you right faster than any of that aruetyc osik.”
But Fi was still looking at Etain's b.u.mp, and Vau knew that he had enough recall to draw the very obvious conclusion. Without a major facial movement like a smile, it was hard to gauge his emotional state, but Vau couldn't help thinking that it was a little disapproving, and that he might have been trying to say, You never said.
It was too easy to attribute thoughts and words to him. They'd have to take it slowly.
Vau left Jaing and the ladies to fuss over Fi and went to check on Ko Sai. Mird, back in its native environment, looked to him with a hopeful expression that begged permission to do what it enjoyed most: hunting.
”Okay, Mird'ika. I have to see Ko Sai anyway.” Vau pointed toward the trees. ”Oya! Oya, Mird!”
The strill shot off at high speed and disappeared into the pocket of woodland to the north, and Vau went on his way. The bastion had started to acquire a routine like a real home-stead, and now that Vau, Skirata, or one of the Nulls was around much of the time, Bralor was getting on with over-seeing the building work for Skirata. It was definitely feeling yaim'la, and was a much bigger complex than Vau had first thought. Land was still free on spa.r.s.ely populated Mandalore, as long as you didn't want to cram into Keldabe. Up here in the north, a clan could spread out.
But I'm not part of this. I'm just pa.s.sing through, under-stood?
The only part of the bastion that didn't have that feeling of busy, wood-smoke-scented warmth was Ko Sai's quarters, where it felt as if she'd created an exclusion zone that was every bit as unwelcoming as Tipoca City without managing to be clinical, white, or s.h.i.+ny.
She seemed to be draped over her desk-Kaminoans, all fluid elegance, didn't bend. They curved. With her head lowered as she made notes, she looked as if she might droop completely.
”How's it going?” he asked.
”Another day when I lament the lack of data from my last year's work, but if you mean have I recorded more information on regulating the aging genes...”
”Let's not insult each other's intelligence. I do.”
”Then I have.”
”Well, my question's not about that. It's about motive. I still don't understand why you're withholding this information, because you've never made demands.”
”Wrong end of the 'scope, possibly. Perhaps it's because I want to stay alive as long as possible, in the hope that some-thing in the circ.u.mstances will change, and I can resume my work unmolested.”
”Chancellor Palpatine bothered you most, didn't he? That's what made you go into hiding.”
”Anyone who creates powerful technology has a responsibility not to hand it to those who'll misuse it.”
”I can sense you're not from Rothana, somehow...”
”It depends on your definition of misuse.” Ko Sai never looked quite as imposing as she had on Kamino, and it wasn't just the limited wardrobe now. Exile was eroding her resolve. There might come a time when she simply caved in. ”But might I ask why it's so important to you to restore normal aging to these clones? You're not an irrationally emotional man like Skirata. Is it a commercial venture for you?”
”Am I going to rush to Arkania with it and invite bids? No. No commercial value except to those interested in subverting genetic rights management, who tend not to be those best able to pay anyway.”
”Curiosity, then, or to prove your interrogation skills?”
”No, it's because it's unfair to deprive them of a full life. Crus.h.i.+ng the weak is the hallmark of a small mind.”
”The Jedi said Skirata wouldn't sell the data, either, and would probably destroy it after he'd made use of it.”
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