Stand Off (3)

Republic Cruiser Requiem

High orbit over Naboo

I gazed at the green planet below us. To my right commodore Pellaeon was staring at Naboo with stern expression on his face. Looking at this emerald jewel from here you would never suspect how grim the situation was on the surface.

Theed was in shambles. The city's law enforcement and medical services were swarmed and order was breaking down. According to the latest estimates about sixty percent of the population was infected in the first hour after the Blue Shadow was unleashed. By the time people knew what was happening it was all too late.

I shook my head. You'd expect that a capital city in this day and age would have some measures to combat a bio attack. To be fair the Naboo people had excellent doctors with state of the art facilities. However, no one had been prepared for attack of such a scale. To make matters worse, there was no warning either, however at least for that there was a somewhat decent explanation – not to spook any CIS agents who could have warned the lab. For all the good that did.

From my point of view there were few good news. First, most of the craft which had a reasonable chance to run the blockade were under the control of the local defence forces and were kept under lock and key. For now at least. Second – the general populace actually (mostly) listened when I ordered the quarantine. Which meant that people were getting away from the affected regions and the officials controlling the dams down the river passing through Theed, (I probably should have remembered its damn name) were doing their best to close them so the spread of the Virus could be slowed down if not contained.

The best news was the outcome from my conversation with Palpatine, select Senators as well as Yoda and Windu. My thoughts drifted to that "chat" which took place five hours ago.

=RK=

Flashback

The holocomm sparkled to life with a short hiss of static. Six blue tinted figures appeared over the low holographic projector.

I nodded at the senators who were introduced to me. Gran Moe, Gram Ben Iblis and Bail Organa. Multiple eyes glared hard at me.

"General Veil, explain your actions!" Organa fixed me with a hard stare which I returned calmly. I've been stared down by professionals who had not only the power but the willingness to flay my skin for the fun of it. The good senator's glare was not even remotely impressive.

"I did what is necessary to ensure the security of your worlds and the Republic as a whole, Senators. Would you want to explain to your people why their loved ones are chocking to death on the Blue Shadow when a potential galactic pandemic could be stopped easily by blockading one world?" It was hard not to sneer at the naïve man. Instead, I kept my voice quiet and reasonable.

"That's not..." spluttered Organa.

"General, what is the situation on the ground?" Ben Iblis' calm voice interrupted him.

"The virus is spreading towards the eastern swamps. Theed is covered with the stuff after charges containing Blue Shadow were detonated in the river passing through the city. The resulting mist contained both the standard and airborne variants. Before anyone knew what was happening a significant percentage of the populace was infected. The last estimate I saw was about fifty percent of Theed's citizens were exposed. It's too early to say how many of them had caught the virus. I've ordered all space flights cancelled and the population outside of the currently affected regions to move further away. It is unclear if they were further attacks on the planet."

"Isn't this a bit harsh and premature action?" asked senator Moe. His three eye-stalks were shifting in agitation.

"Considering how dangerous this particular bio-weapon is, quarantine is the best course of action. Do you want to contemplate what will happen if the Blue Shadows spreads to multiple star systems at a time of a war? Especially while the Separatists are still on the offensive? The GAR is stretched too thin as it is. To make things worse I do not have the forces necessary to mount an effective blockade of Naboo. If the virus spreads further..." I trailed off. "There is an extensive underground river network passing through most of Naboo. Sooner or later the whole planet might be contaminated even if there only release points were at Theed and the CIS lab."

"Grim news, this is." sighed Yoda. "Contained this outbreak must be."

"Chancellor Palpatine, as officer in charge at Naboo I need orders on how to proceed." I asked. "I need instructions in case the Blue Shadow could not be contained at its present locations and threatens to go out of control."

"What do you suggest, general?" asked Palpatine warily.

"Permission to draw contingency plans for sterilizing the sites of the outbreak." I said with a straight face." I have not wish to go to such terrible lengths to stop the Blue Shadow from claiming the whole world but the affected area might have to be incinerated from orbit. This is request I do not make lightly and deeply regret the loss of life that will ensure if it becomes necessary. However, if ordered I will do so in order to preserve the rest of Naboo and its inhabitants." I lied through my teeth.

If it came to it I was unlikely to lose any sleep over burning large chunks of Naboo. The hit to my reputation on the other hand was something I didn't want to deal with. Besides, with Naboo having that weird water networks, it was unlikely anything but sterilizing Theed and the lab in the fist minutes after the outbreak could have done a difference.

"This is madness!" shouted Organa and jumped from his seat. He pointed an accusing finger at me. "To even contemplate such a thing..."

"What would you have me do, Senator? Let a whole world die from some misguided sense of mercy?" I asked while putting as much regret as I could in my voice. "There are five million souls in Theed and the affected region of the marshes. Over three hundred million on the rest of the planet. We are not living in some children's holo-novel with a guaranteed happy ending. This is the real world, Senators! Wishful thinking will not save the people of Naboo."

I took a deep breath. Bloody politicians! It wasn't like Naboo was some kind of densely populated world. Mere three hundred millions – that wasn't even a drop in the bucket. On a large worlds as Coruscant you could misplace a few billions at least within the daily population fluctuations. Of course, Naboo did have a few things making it important – location on one of the large trade lanes, the popularity of Amidala in certain circles and most importantly, it was the Chancellor's own homeworld, which was the most important of the lot.

"I have the man who created the airborne strain of the virus in custody and interrogated him. He modified the Blue Shadow for easier spread and to be viable for hours out in the air. The only good news is that the death rate is down to about eighty percent of the people infected with it from the original ninety-eight. However, depending on how much of the virus got into a person's bloodstream, the kriffing thing could have an incubating period of up to a week without the sick man showing any symptoms – that's another thing we have to thank Vindi about. I do not need to tell you how far someone could travel in such a span of time all the while they're spreading the virus." I succinctly explained the scope of the problem that dropped in our collective laps.

"That's a dire news indeed." muttered Windu. He was frowning and judging by the look in his eyes the Jedi Master was deep in thought.

"What about a cure or vaccine?" asked Ben Iblis.

"Last I time I heard from Captain Typho in Theed they had leads to a possible cure but I have not received anything more concrete yet. Even if cure is found it will take some time before it could be manufactured in sufficient quantities and distributed. Not to mention that it will be at least months until all traces of the virus are erased and the quarantine of Naboo could be safely lifted. Vindi hadn't bothered to even attempt creating a cure or research how the Blue Shadow had been largely dealt with in the first place." I had no idea either – it all happened after my accident above Korriban.

"We need to create a commission which is to investigate what is happening on Naboo." declared senator Moe. Emperor cursed politicians. The whole mess would be resolved one way or another before some kind of a commission could do a thing.

"Senator, senator." I chided. "This is the same thing you proposed when the Trade federation invaded Naboo all those years ago. We all know how that endeavour ended. Don't you think that the situation is radically different? What would you do if a shipload of people from Theed reaches your home-world? The consequences of those people disembarking in one of your largest space ports and mingling with the crowds will not be too big a problem, will it? After all this could not be such important and time sensitive issue... Not when you suggest that a commission which would take months, perhaps years to do anything, must handle this crisis. Too bad that the inhabitants of Theed would be dead by then..." I couldn't help myself. I've never had patience for dealing with politicians. Back in the good old days things were somewhat simpler. At least they were once I had to directly enter the political stage, because by that time I was a powerful Sith in my own right and still had the backing of Baras. That solved a lot of issues.

"You dare mock me in such a way?" the Gram roared.

"Gentlemen! Enough!" Palpatine had to raise his voice to calm down his crony.

"My apologies, Chancellor. I have a low tolerance for fools who are disconnected from the real world. What are your orders concerning the situation on Naboo?" I asked calmly. I'm pretty sure I just made an enemy but found it hard to care. Who had the bright idea of making that imbecile their Senator anyway?!

"Maintain the quarantine, general. I will dispatch additional forces to assist you. Find out if there is a cure and if there is make all possible efforts to ensure that it is produced and distributed among the infected." Palpatine instructed.

"Yes, sir. And if the virus could not be contained?" I asked innocently.

Palpatine looked at the people in his office then at me.

"That is to be determined at later date. Carry on your duties, general.

Flashback End

=RK=

To be fair that went better than expected. Making an enemy from one of Palpy's boot lickers was of no concern to me. The animosity from Bail Organa might be somewhat problematic down the road. I needed the Republic, if I decided to keep it around, to be highly militarized. That however meant that most of the more pacifistic senators would eventually become my political enemies.

While that was a problem which I would have to tackle after this war was resolved, I might have to look into opportunities to weaken the peace faction within the Senate, at least some of Palpy's supporters too. Perhaps even the Senate as a whole in case working with the Republic in the long term didn't prove beneficial.

"Admiral Yularen's fleet should be here any moment, sir." The bubble of silence that had descended upon us was shattered by Pellaeon's quiet words.

"Excellent. We are leaving towards Iego as soon as I speak with the good Admiral.

Few hours ago, Captain Typho contacted us with not only an update of how bad was the situation on the ground was but with the news that they had determined what was the key ingredient of the cure for the Blue Shadow – an extract of a Reeska root which could be found only on one place. I recalled that there might be some kind of a trap waiting out there so I decided to go there with a at least Venator cruiser. However, that in turn meant that in order to preserve the thin blockade I needed to wait for Yularen and his ships. A Jedi would have probably rushed there with whatever flying thing he could get their hands on but that was not the case with me. It's been a very long time since I might have done something equally foolish.

I was observing a pair of Torrent fighters which were returning from a patrol when big shapes jumped out of hyperspace. The familiar triangular shapes of Republic cruisers and Assault Ships were a welcome sight.

"Contact Admiral Yularen's Flagship and prepare for hyper jump. Look alive people! We have work to do!" I ordered.

A holographic display popped to life in front of the window through which I was looking. That reminded me. As soon as possible I should get myself in a position to influence the warship designs. Who in his right mind put the bridge of a combat ship in a tower over the superstructure? With windows no less?! In this day and age there were very few Force Adepts who could benefit from such an arrangement. Even back in the day the warships at least had CICs which immediately could take control over the ship if the bridge was taken out. That wasn't exactly the case nowadays.

The familiar face of the older man appeared in the display.

"Admiral Yularen. It's good to see you again. I just hoped it to be under better circumstances." I inclined my head in a greeting.

"General Veil. Congratulations for the promotion. What is the situation on the planet?" Yularen asked gruffly.

I gave him a short summary and sent him a full briefing compiled by my officers.

"Admiral, I have a lead on a possible cure. I'll be taking the Requiem and heading there. I'll leave this mess in your capable hands."

He glared at me without much heat. It was obviously that he was not happy that I was dumping this clusterkriff in his hands. Tough. Skywalker was still recovering from the wounds received when he saved Aayla Secura and Kenobi was still on some kind of a mission far away from here. So the famous duo was not here to save the day.

"I am not too thrilled to leave you in such a situation admiral. However, the sooner we have a viable cure the faster this mess could be cleaned up and we can return to winning the war." I smiled apologetically.

Yularen shook his head and gave me an exasperated look.

"It's not like I can order you around." he grumbled. "Good luck, General."

"To you too. I hope that Senator Amidala won't be too troublesome."

"You are going in search of the cure just to get away from her, aren't you?" The admiral glared at me and frowned.

I gave him an innocent smile.

"I have no idea what you are talking about. You have command over Task Force Requiem. May the Force be with you." I said to Yularen and ordered Pellaeon to get us on the way.

=RK=

Nal Hutta

Hutt controlled space

A blue skinned alien male was sitting on a chair at a corner table with his back to the wall. He was giving evaluating glances to the other patrons of the cantina which was one of his favourite drinking holes. He sipped from a mug filled with a steaming black beverage and sighed with pleasure. His last job paid an extraordinary good amount of credits considering that it was an easy grab of a Twi'lek who had tried to desert the CIS with stolen data. The dumb fool was back in the clutches of his former employers who were very interested in having a heart to heart chat with him.

Life for the bounty hunters Bane was good lately if somewhat boring. He smiled wanly to himself. Bane needed something harder to do in order to get his blood pumping and make him feel alive. After all, despite what most people thought he was not in this profession just for the money though it was a nice illusion. Besides, he did appreciate what credits could buy him.

A figure cloaked by a black, hooded mantle entered the cantina and scanned its inhabitants. Bane's right hand instinctively fell to the butt of his blaster as he studied the newcomer who noticed him and headed his way. There was something in the approaching man that made the bounty hunter feel uneasy.

"Bane, my master has a proposition for you. One that will make you a very rich man." Rumbled a digitally distorted voice.

The bounty hunter looked at the man under his hat. The stranger had said the magic words.

"I am all ears. Just don't waste my time."

The masked man chuckled.