Wrath of the Outer Rim : Episode VI

Lieutenant Deslin ducked down as the Hutt mercenaries fired on his unit. The orbital battle was going well, while the Hutts could levy vast numbers of pirates for their war, they were still pirates. Save for the occasional professional mercenary ship, the Hutt fleet was a cobbled-together mess of armed tradeships. Ships designed to prey on civilian spacers and make off with their cargo and crews, not warships. More than that, they weren't coordinating, not well. Many of the ships were from rival gangs, either working together due to the promise of pay from the Hutts, or from the Hutts calling in debts.

Their units on the ground were another story. After the Twi'lek militia had driven off the initial raiders, the "loyalists" started using mercenaries. Equipping and training ground force was much easier than building and crewing dedicated warships, and it showed. They were disciplined, well equipped, and lethal.

The sharp barks of Naboo blaster rifles answered the mercenaries' challenge. Ryloth's rocky deserts made for a long-range shooting gallery, patrols would spot one another from hundreds of meters away, duck behind rocks, and start exchanging fire. Ideally, the Naboo would slowly advance under the covering fire of a repeating blaster, slowly closing range and flanking the pinned mercenaries. Or better yet, a Naboo starfighter would descend from orbit and strafe the loyalists.

Less ideally, the patrol you spotted was acting as bait for the squad laying in ambush.

There were no real frontlines on Ryloth, the mercenaries had been spread across the entire planet, destroying isolated settlements in retaliation strikes, demoralizing the Twi'leks with typical Hutt brutality. The arrival of the Naboo didn't change that goal, so the Naboo had to station units in settlements and maintain constant patrols. Simply garrisoning the settlements would let the mercenaries bring up artillery and shell them at the range, and even if they didn't have artillery, they had no problems launching hit and run attacks and tossing thermal detonators into civilian buildings. So here Deslin was, out in the middle of nowhere, miles away from the nearest town, getting shot at by the scum of the galaxy.

"Lieutenant, we've got huttspawn coming up on our right! Ambush!"

Deslin cursed and tapped the right side of his gunner's helmet. "Pin em down!" the Lieutenant shouted. The man shifted his repeating blaster, quickly spotting one of the mercs as they moved. Their flanking unit pinned, that left the rest of the squad free to pick them off. The mercs had been dangerously close, a few seconds later and they likely would have gunned Deslin's squad down. As it was, they were close enough that the Naboo had no problem turning the tables.

"This is General Kael to all units, Ryloth Militia forces have identified a Hutt FOB. Brace for orbital fire."

Deslin cursed and dived down onto his belly. With a furious roar, weaponized Naboo plasma slammed into Ryloth's surface just a few kilometers from his unit, detonating violently and leaving a molten crater. The heatwave washed over him, and the Naboo combat patrol was bathed in darkness as the dust storm overtook them.

Then, the shooting started once more.

-----

"I apologize, your majesty, but you misunderstand. I do not by any means disapprove of your actions, but I cannot join you."

Padme Amidala's severe expression didn't budge in the slightest. At this point, the fact that Amidala was leading the liberation force personally wasn't a surprise at all. Not that I had expected it, I was just numb at this point.

"Please explain then. I do not see how this is different from Naboo," she replied a little too calmly.

"First, please understand this. You are the leader of your people, duly elected to make decisions such as this. I am not. I may have a certain amount of... unofficial influence, but at the end of the day, this decision is beyond my power. I was able to aid you then because Gunray was blatantly violating both Republic law, and the principles of the Trade Federation, casting aside even his own admittedly threadbare justification. I was legally required to disobey him at that point."

"Here... like it or not, these mercenaries are acting under the banner of Ryloth's elected government, as recognized by the Republic. Legally, the Twi'leks are supposed to report voter fraud and government corruption to the Republic. While an elected government is not a requirement for Republic membership, upholding your own laws and constitutions is. While I believe your evaluation of the Republic's judiciary system is correct, and that by the time the investigation has begun, all the evidence will have been destroyed and witnesses silenced, again, legally, that is not my decision to make. Or yours, for that matter."

I sighed, closing my eyes as I gathered my thoughts. "Your majesty, if I wish to protect the Trade Federation's interests on Ryloth, I must obey the law. I cannot aid you as I did on Naboo. Do you understand my dilemma?" I asked carefully.

Amidala was silent for a moment, her frown lessening just a fraction. She nodded, ever so slightly. "I do. I do not care for it, but I understand. Safe travels, captain," she said.

The connection closed, and I leaned back with a tired sigh. My sensors pinged persistently as the Naboo drove the cartel fleet away from Ryloth, countless royal starfighters and bombers tearing into the "volunteers" with savage glee. Naboo's pacifist culture was gone. The entire galaxy had watched with indifference as they had suffered, and the Naboo had clearly come out of it resolved to never allow such an injustice to happen to anyone else.

Naturally, my troubles were nowhere near done. The Indomitable pinged me. My distributed AI had settled on identifying itself as the ship, as far as it was concerned, it was the ship.

"Captain. I have identified a news broadcast of interest," came the deep, synthesized, emotionless tones of the Indomitable.

I brought up the article in question and felt ice in my heart.

JABBA THE HUTT KILLED IN ATOMIC DETONATION​

The infamous outer rim crime lord was killed mere hours ago when what has been identified as a fission bomb detonated inside his palace on Tantooine.

Information on the attack is scarce, but underworld contacts believe the attack was retaliation for an illegally placed bounty-

I nearly cracked the touchpad as I rapidly dialed Cad Bane and Jango Fett. They answered almost immediately.

"Ah, Captain! So you've heard! How's that for an example?" Cad Bane answered jovially.

I took a deep, calming breath. Then two more.

"How does two hundred million each sound?"

Cad grinned. "See, Fett? I told you we wouldn't have to negotiate our payment."