Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 08_ Diversity Alliance - Kevin J. Anderson [29]
Nolaa's other head-tail, which had once been so long, so supple, so beautiful, had been blasted off in the violent battle when she had overthrown her slave master, killed him and his henchmen, then made her escape.
Although losing a head-tail was a severe handicap to Twi'leks, Nolaa Tarkona had survived. In the twitching stump she had implanted an optical sensor that could pick up images from behind and relay them to her brain, thus increasing her deadly mystique. This Twi'lek woman who had overthrown a male-dominated culture, slaughtered her masters, and launched a powerful political movement literally had an eye in the back of her head....
"Chevin," Hovrak continued, "a species easily recognized by their startlingly long faces and huge heads." The display showed a creature whose chin hung down nearly to its ankles. "Many humans find them unsavory, particularly ugly, but the Chevin view themselves as opportunistic realists interested in their own well-being."
Nolaa smiled. "We are interested in the well-being of all alien peoples."
Hovrak pointed to the image on the datapad. "Unfortunately, we still have no representatives from this species, despite our propaganda campaign."
"Then I believe we ought to work harder to recruit at least one Chevin,"
Nolaa said with a faint frown. "Even if it takes a bribe."
"Yes," Hovrak said, growling deep in his throat. Nolaa Tarkona's disappointment in his failure to recruit a Chevin came as a personal defeat to Hovrak. "I believe I shall concentrate my efforts on that species."
A Gamorrean guard strode in and stood snuffling at attention.
Because they were intensely loyal and able to follow orders, so long as they were simple enough, Nolaa had found the porcine guards to be good henchmen. She didn't for a minute expect that they might betray her; they were too stupid to think of such a thing.
"Lunch ready," the Gamorrean said in a phlegm-filled voice.
Hovrak froze the image on the datapad and stood up, his fur bristling.
"Good, I'm ready for food, fresh food... wet food."
He snarled in anticipation, flexing his claws.
Deciding to stretch her legs as well, Nolaa followed the wolffnan out to the main grotto, where holding cells dotted the walls. "Another newly arrived prisoner?" she asked.
Saliva had already begun to run in the wolffnan's mouth. "Yes, a fresh one--fresh from Concord Dawn, convicted of cheating at Sabacc."
"Cheating at Sabacc, nothing more?"
Nolaa said. "And they sent him to you?"
"On Concord Dawn, cheating is a capital offense." Hovrak's black lips curled back away from his fangs. "And laws are laws."
Moving with stiff, tensely coiled muscles, as if he were stalking prey, Hovrak strode toward one of the cell doors. "Besides," he snarled back over his shoulder, "one of the senior magistrates there, a Devaronian, is sympathetic to our cause."
He opened the cell door, clenching and unclenching his clawed hands.
From inside the prison chamber a weak voice, a deliciously human voice, wailed, "Please let me go! I'm innocent. I didn't know cheating was a capital offense. I'll never do it again!"
Hovrak merely snarled. The voice changed abruptly in tone.
"Wait, what are you doing? Stop. Noooo!"
The human voice ended in a gurgling scream. Then one of the Gamorrean guards slammed the cell door so that Nolaa didn't have to listen to the wet, tearing sounds as the wolfman ate his lunch.
Nolaa waited patiently. She decided not to take a meal now. Not yet. She usually ate alone in her private chambers, dining on food she prepared herself. It was a habit she had developed... not that she expected any members of the Diversity Alliance to poison her. No, she knew how fiercely loyal they were. She just liked it better that way.
More self-sufficient.
Nolaa would have liked to dine with her half-sister... if lovely