Star Wars_ MedStar 01_ Battle Surgeons - Michael Reaves [23]
The Hutt’s bulk loomed behind the clone guard. "It’s all right," he said. The guard nodded and stepped away. Filba glared down at the Sullustan, raising himself up to his full, enormous-to Den, anyway-height. Behind him, Den could see that the holoproj Filba had been speaking with was now gone.
"What do you want?" Filba growled.
"Don’t try to intimidate me, slug-face, or I’ll let some hot air out of you." Den had already pulled his record-ing rod from a pocket, and was posed to record Filba’s words; now he poked it in the Hutt’s belly as he spoke for added emphasis, regretting his action instantly when he pulled the rod, now dripping strings of slime, back.
Filba slumped nearly half a meter. He looked-if Den was reading the expression on the huge, toadlike face right-very nervous. Den wrinkled his nose, noticing that the Hutt’s bodily secretions now smelled sour.
"I just spoke with Admiral Bleyd," Filba said. "Or rather, I listened while he spoke. He spoke quite loudly, and for a long time."
"Let me guess. He’s not happy about the transport being vaporized."
"Nor am I." Filba wrung his hands; his fingers looked like damp yellow Kamino spongeworms.
"More than seventy kilos of bota were lost."
"Along with three lives," Den reminded him. "What do they call that? Oh, yeah: ’collateral damage.’"
His sarcastic tone made Filba glance sharply at him. The Hutt drew himself up and away, leaving a glisten-ing, wide trail of mucosal ooze. Den was just as happy to have some space between him and Filba; the huge gastropod’s fear-scent was making him queasy.
"People die in wars, reporter. What do you want?" Filba’s tone was cold; obviously he regretted the Sullus-tan seeing him in a moment of weakness.
"Just a quote," Den said in a conciliatory tone. No point in antagonizing him further; Filba might be a coward, but his jurisdiction over Rimsoo Seven’s ship-ping and receiving station, as well as much of the intel datastream, made him a powerful and influential indi-vidual-and a bad enemy once your back was turned. "Something official about the disaster that I can file with my story."
"Story?" Huge yellow eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What story?"
"Naturally I’m going to mention this in my next up-link. I’m a war correspondent. It’s part of my job." Den realized he was sounding defensive. He closed his mouth.
"I can’t allow that," Filba said primly. "It could dam-age morale."
Den stared at him. "Whose morale? The troops’? Nothing bothers them; cut off both arms and they’ll kick you to death. And if you’re talking about the base personnel, anyone who isn’t in a coma or a bacta tank knows about it already. It was kind of an attention-getter."
"This conversation is over," Filba said, gliding away over his patina of slime. "You will not file any story on this incident." He made an offhand gesture, and Den was suddenly yanked upward from behind. The clone guard had picked him up by his collar and was now carrying him, feet dangling, out of the chamber.
Once outside, the guard set Den down-not force-fully, but not particularly gently, either.
"No more drop-ping in unannounced," he told Den. "Filba’s orders."
Den was trembling with anger. "Tell Filba," he said, "that he can take his orders and-" He described graphically just how the Hutt could use his cloacal flap as a file folder. The clone guard paid no attention; he simply went back inside.
Den turned and stalked toward his cubicle, keenly aware that several clone troopers and a few officers of various species were watching. Some were smiling.
You will not file any story on this incident.
"Wrong," Den muttered. "Watch me."
8
The explosion had drawn Jos outside the cantina, as it had most of the other occupants.
His vision was just a bit hazy-somehow, those two drinks had multiplied into four-but the transport’s disintegration helped sober him up dramatically.
He saw Zan and one of the other surgeons, a Twi’lek named Kardash Josen, and joined them; they, like every-one else at the base, were speculating as to the disaster’s cause. The prevailing theory was that the spores