Star Wars_ I, Jedi - Michael A. Stackpole [171]
“I cannot, for to do so would be to put you in jeopardy.” He blinked his big eyes and raised a three-fingered hand. “You told these men that you were taking me as your servant, which action precipitated this fight. Your man violated an order, an order from which your authority to discipline him arose. If you do not take me as your servant, then there was no justification and he and his friends will be free to fabricate a story that will destroy you. By going with you, I am proof of your story.”
My eyes narrowed. “And what of the tale they will tell about the jewelry?”
“We are all that remains of a peaceful people who had their world destroyed. Who would believe we have anything of value?” With his right hand he indicated his people. “I am Elegos A’kla, Trustant for this domain of Morymento. All I have of value is these people and, I believe, by protecting you I can protect them.”
His words, carried in a somber but rich and sincere voice, made a lot of sense. Still, I didn’t like the idea of taking him with me into the Survivor society. Even under my protection, Courkrus was no place for a civilian. “I do not want to take you away from your daughter.”
Elegos shook his head. “We are Caamasi. We understand well the pain of losing kin, and how to ease that pain. She will not be alone.”
I nodded and accepted the blaster carbine from him. I turned and fired one stunbolt into Remart, then lowered the weapon again. “Looks like I have a bodyservant. I’ll be at the spaceport. You have an hour to say your farewells. If you don’t make it on time and get left behind, I’ll understand.”
The Caamasi graced me with a warm smile. “An hour. I will be punctual.”
I started to trudge down the path to the spaceport and worked my comlink into my left hand. “This is Bolt Leader. When we have a chance, I need some pilots to de-dirt some clutches, and I’ll need some evac of downed men.”
Someone at fleet replied after only a couple seconds delay. “You have trouble down there, Bolt Leader?”
“A bit.” I sucked at a knuckle. “Nothing I couldn’t handle though.”
FORTY
Some of the Invidious’ internal security officers came down with the evac shuttle, separated Elegos, me and the four of my men who had gone down. Once we got back to the Star Destroyer, I was placed in a small ward room and interrogated. I told them the full story about finding Remart looting the dead Thalassians, our disagreement about the fate of the Caamasi and the subsequent fight. I eliminated any mention of the Caamasi jewelry and instead suggested Remart had been angry that the Caamasi had nothing for him to take. I knew Remart and his cronies would spin the story differently. I counted upon the idea that no pirate would give loot back to people to give my fiction about the lack of loot the stamp of truth. Their counterclaims would simply seem like a trumped up story to get me into trouble.
The interrogation lasted for a couple of hours during which time my hands stiffened up, the blood on them crusted, and the broken bones in my left hand began to throb rather fiercely. The interrogators knew I was in pain and kept promising I’d have medical attention once I’d cleared up a few details. Having conducted numerous interrogations myself, I knew what they wanted to hear, how they wanted to hear it, so I gave it to them. Finally they walked away, apparently satisfied with what I had told them.
After they left, a Two-Onebee droid came in and examined my hands. It noted that I’d broken two bones in my left hand and had a lot of edema in both hands, as well as cuts and abrasions. It set the broken bones—and was a bit more gentle about it than Mara Jade had been—but informed me that I’d not be getting access to the bacta tanks on the ship because I was not sufficiently injured. While it would not give me details on what had happened, from the nature and number of injuries it described, I gathered some Thalassians must have ambushed one of our looting parties, or someone triggered a booby trap, which accounted for all the people using the tanks before me.