Zey shrugged. “He believes that underplaying the threat might be foolhardy.”
“Always easier to get the voters to foot the bill for a war if they think the enemy's about to invade, eh? Is that why Republic Intel came up with the quadrillions figure?”
“You're a cynical man, Sergeant.”
“Yeah. I was a mere for too long.”
“I never said you were wrong.”
“Okay, General,” said Skirata. He managed to sound irritated. Zey knew the game by now; the two of them conducted a coded conversation, both knowing what the other really felt. Mereel admired their pragmatism. “We've not found the hub of the Seps' droid production. I assume you'll want us to carry on looking.”
Zey sounded older these days. “The Chancellor is most insistent.”
“Understood, General.”
Skirata closed the link and stared through Mereel for a moment. Then he focused on him again. “Palpatine doesn't want to talk about the real numbers. Clone production on Kamino looks like it might stop dead in a couple of years. I say the objective of this war isn't the one we're being told it is.”
“You sound like you expect politicians to tell the truth, Kal'buir.”
“Nah, I'm not that senile yet.” Skirata gestured to Ordo for his datapad, fingers beckoning. “We're bringing the plan forward a little, lads. I'm marking a date on my calendar just under two years from now, and making sure we're ready to take care of our own by then. You understand me?”
“Understood,” said Mereel. Skirata had what he called an exit strategy: his plan for the end of the war, not just for himself, but for the Nulls… and maybe any clone who found himself out of a job. “Okay, everybody looks for Ko Sai now.”
“What about Grievous?”
Ordo handed the datapad to Skirata. “Last time Kom'rk got a fix on him it was leaked information. Someone wants us to find him. Until we work out who and why, we keep a little distance.”
“Works for me,” said Mereel.
Wars often didn't make sense. He'd read plenty of history, and he'd absorbed Kal'buir's lessons; politicians often made decisions that flew in the face of professional military advice. Whatever the Republic was up to, a long-running war of skirmishes suited Palpatine's purpose.
But it didn't suit Mereel. And it didn't do the mounting numbers of clone casualties any good either. He felt no guilt whatsoever about using the taxpayers' credit to get the best outcome for himself and his brothers, both those in the field now and those to come.
Three million against… how many? Hundreds of millions. They were bad odds, but they weren't impossible, not with the Nulls and a few thousand commandos around. But working out odds meant being clear who the enemy was, and the more Mereel learned, the less certain he became.
“Cheer up,” said Prudii, “Average kill rates are going up all the time. I reckon we can shoot for at least 200-to-one.” He took a hand-size slab of metal out of his pack and held it up with a grin. Then he smacked it down hard on the edge of the console. It crazed and broke into pieces. “Those tinnies just can't take the strain like we can.”
No, those weren't impossible odds. Bad, maybe; but not impossible. Mereel sat back in the co-pilot's seat, took out his datapad, and began combing through the hidden data of Kamino's clonemaster. Ko Sai had the whole galaxy in which to hide, but she was hiding from men she had personally engineered to be the very best.
The odds weren't in her favour.
Glossary
carvanium – metal used in alloys
vode – (Mando'a) brothers
osik – (Mando'a) equivalent of “poodoo”
chakaare – (Mando'a) term of abuse (lit. thief, petty criminal, “grave-robber”)
ner vod – (Mando'a) my brother
kaminiise – (Mando'a) Kaminoans
aiwha-bait – insulting Mandalorian term for Kaminoans
an vode – (Mando'a) “brothers all.”
jetiise – (Mando'a) Jedi (plural) also means Republic
fierfek – Huttese curse
vod'ika – (Mando'a) affectionate diminutive form of “brother”
Mer'ika – (Mando'a) affectionate diminutive form ofMereel
shebs – (Mando'a) backside
di'kute – (Mando'a) idiots, morons
merc – short for mercenary
chags – small, unpredicable, highly excitable Hapan amphibians
heptochromatic – able to see in six colours including ultraviolet
petabyte – a quadrillion bytes of data
dar'yaim – (Mando'a) a place you want to forget, a hell
TIV – Traffic Interdiction Vessel (disguised vessel used for boardings by GAR special forces)
or'dinii – (Mando'a) “complete lunatic”
FB2 document info
Document ID: ceb92d11-b838-4646-9a65-a3c0a4d2c840
Document version: 1
Document creation date: 2006-08-10
Created using: FB Tools software
Document authors :
Anton Filatov
Source URLs :
http://hungryewok.narod.ru/sw/books.htm
Document history:
1.0: initial release. To be proofreaded and imaged.
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