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The Kingdom of the Blind
Chapter 2: The God from the Machine (Part 1)
Written by Sailor Nova
Caden couldn't sleep that night. Making sure her doors and windows were all bolted shut, she sat down at her computer terminal and did as much research as she could on invasive neural ports; from the doctors that installed them to the gangs that used them and the black-market trade on the materials needed to manufacture them. Her fear metamorphosed itself into anger as she thought about the multitude of searches, scans, and security checkpoints that Naoya's bodyguard had seamlessly passed through. His arrogance was astounding, insulting, and infuriating. Did he just assume that they were too stupid to notice? That he could go about his business unseen?
There was no other explanation for what she had seen earlier that evening. The neural ports in the back of Saafir's neck could not be mistaken for anything else. Dangerous cybernetic modifications illegal on Coruscant and most other Alliance planets, they had no use other than for the most sophisticated of hacking and hijacking, and were only found on the most hardened of criminals. He was a Nagaian pirate. He had to be. And he had been living and working undercover on her command ship for the past five months.
So what was he doing on her ship, and who knew about it? Was he working on orders from someone or was he on his own mission? Did he pose a direct threat to her or the Admiral? She wanted to gather her guard and go right now to throw him in a jail cell where he belonged; she wanted to see him in energy bindings and behind forcefields, safely tucked away from herself, her ship, her men, and most importantly, Anastasia. Her blood began to boil at the thought of him near her, speaking to her, being with her. But experience was telling Caden to put her feelings aside; that her first course of action should be to find out as much information about him and his presence here as possible, to insure the safety of all involved. She had no doubts that he was a very dangerous man.
The first and foremost question in her mind was Naoya's involvement in all of this. Criminals and terrorists of this caliber rarely worked alone, and the likelihood of Naoya being Saafir's accomplice was very high. For this reason, she had to keep this her personal secret for now, locked up deep in her chest. Not even Anastasia could know. If anything, she was the last person who could find out. The thought of that made her throat tighten; Caden hated keeping secrets from her, especially... given her relationship to the man in question. No, she couldn't think about that. And she couldn't think about what would happen if Naoya was...
Caden turned her attention back to the task at hand, willing her heartbeat steady; this situation was much more important than her own selfish anger. Logging into the Coruscant military's databanks, she quickly was able to call up profiles on both the consul and his bodyguard. They seemed in order. Searches for them in the police blotters and the news post archives came up empty, as did run-downs through the databases of known Nagai terrorists. But, with ports like that... Saafir was probably able to hack into their mainframes and alter any information he pleased. For all she knew, he might even have something installed in her personal terminals, recording her every keystroke.
No, electronic information would not help her here. She needed information from real people. For that, she was going to have to go straight to the source: Naboo.
Caden pressed a blue buzzer on her intercom, patching her through to the flight deck. A bright image of the commanding deck officer blinked to life on the screen.
"Vice Admiral!" he said, saluting.
"Chief Petty Officer Valara, ready the Mercy Kiss for me. I'm going to be taking a trip to Naboo at 0800 hours tomorrow morning. Do a full prep - weapons and all. And... keep it quiet."
"Yes ma'am, you can count on me ma'am."
"Good. Dismissed."
She ended the transmission and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms protectively over her chest. She didn't even know what was really happening here, but for some reason her heart began to pound at the thought of going to Naboo. She felt as if she was on the precipice of something big -- it hovered over her head as an ominous cloud, ready to let loose a torrential rainstorm. She wanted, needed this to end on Naboo; but somehow, Caden knew that Naboo was only the beginning.
At 0700 hours the next morning, the Vice Admiral called the captain of her personal guard into her office.
Caden had hand-selected her all-female guard force, and chosen a marine by the name of Sioni Ba as their captain. She was an imposing woman, Amazoness through-and-through, fiercely loyal and capable of any mission Caden could throw at her. An effective leader and warrior, Caden trusted her with her life, and the lives of her friends, family, and officers as well.
Sioni walked in and saluted her commander sitting at her desk, with her usual straight-backed posture, alert gaze, and impeccable purple uniform.
"Vice Admiral," she said in greeting.
"At ease, Sioni. Take a seat if you want," Caden said, waving towards the empty chairs in front of the desk.
"Thank you ma'am, but I'm fine standing."
"Very well," Caden closed the various reports in front of her before turning her attention to her guard. "Sioni," she began, sighing, "I'm going to be up-front about this. I have reason to beleieve that the Nabooian consul's bodyguard, who goes by the name of Saafir Leeayen, is a wanted intergalactic terrorist."
Sioni was visibly shocked. "Vice Admiral... these are very serious allegations. What proof do you have? How long have you known...?"
"It doesn't matter. I'm leaving for Naboo in an hour. I'm going to find out for myself who he is and what he is doing here. Once I do, I'll give you the order to arrest him, and most likely the consul as well. But in the meantime, while I'm gone, I want you to keep a close eye on the both of them."
"Vice Admiral, I must protest. It's too dangerous for you to go to Naboo -- he and the consul have probably set up a trap. I suggest that you have them both arrested immediately. Don't even bother with a warrant, I can..."
"No," Caden interrupted, "I don't want to cause any alarm. We need to treat this situation delicately. And this whole thing is... somewhat personal, Sioni. Tell your guards to follow them everywhere, give them orders to protect them and monitor their communications, but don't let anybody know my reasoning. For the time being, this is a secret between you and me."
Sioni's stern expression softened. "Yes. I understand."
"Thank you, Sioni. And please be careful."
"Always, ma'am."
"Dismissed."
Caden rose and the two saluted each other in farewell. As Sioni exited the spacious office, Caden's personal assistant Kurien entered, glasses precariously perched on the tip of his nose, well-used datebook in tow.
"Good morning Kurien," Caden said sweetly, smiling at him. He gave a slight bow and returned the greeting. He opened his mouth to say more, but Caden stopped him with a raised hand. "Before you start rattling off my appointments, let me just tell you that I can't make any of them today."
"W-what?!"
"I'm flying to Naboo later this morning. I have--"
"Naboo?! Vice ADMIRAL! This is no time for a vacation!"
Caden glared at him. "--emergency business to take care of there." He blushed furiously and let her continue. "I should be back by later tonight, but for the meantime just tell anyone who inquires that I had to attend to a family emergency. Tell them I'm still on planet... Don't let anyone know I've gone to Naboo, especially the visiting consul."
He bowed again. "It will be done, Vice Admiral."
"And before I leave, please give a call to the Nabooian Minister of Defense, Moshe Opie. Let her know I will be coming by her office at about 1200 hours Naboo time. Please make sure to get across that it is very important -- I absolutely must speak with her." Kurien bowed again in acknowledgment of her orders.
An ensign from the flight deck came around the far corner of the hallway, walking with a quick pace down the short corridor towards Caden's office. He stopped in the open office door and saluted his commander.
"Vice Admiral Kozue, I've come with a message from Chief Petty Officer Valara that the Mercy Kiss is ready for her pre-flight preparations, and requests your presence to oversee the final stages before take-off. According to your wishes he has arranged for you to depart from the unused port-side bomber bay, deck P27-0."
"Wonderful," Caden said, nodding her approval. She turned to her assistant and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Hopefully I will see you again tonight, Kurien. I'll be sure to bring back a souvenir or two."
"Caden, it's so nice to see you again," the older Nabooian woman smiled, shaking Caden's hand enthusiastically.
"It's been far too long, Moshe. I only regret that I am here on such serious business."
"Please, sit down, and tell me all about it." The Nabooian Minister of Defense, Moshe Opie, gestured to one of the two lush red chairs that had been placed in the center of the tall-ceilinged, sunny audience room. A highly decorated general whose days of military service had long since passed, Moshe now held the position of Minister of Defense on Queen Erenda's cabinet. She was a very experienced leader with a calm, collected manner that set others around her at ease. In the sunlight streaming into the brightly illuminated room, her salt-and-pepper hair seemed to cast a halo around her aquiline profile, and her various medals were like glimmering stars in the sky of her wine-red uniform. She was still quite an impressive commander, despite her age. Caden had met her years ago, at her promotion ceremony when she made Rear Admiral, and the two had been friends ever since.
"You might not be able to answer my questions, but I figure that you will at least be able to point me in the direction of someone who can," Caden began.
"Of course." Moshe nodded, encouraging her guest to continue. Caden took a deep breath before proceeding.
"Have you ever heard the name Saafir Leeayen?" she asked. The other woman seemed to ponder the name for a moment before shaking her head, an inquisitive look on her face. "He is an assistant to Consul Taverre," Caden explained.
"Well, I certainly knew Consul Taverre, but I don't know about who he kept as assistants. We were not terribly close, unfortunately."
Caden's heart jumped into her throat. Were? "You speak as if he's no longer alive."
Moshe seemed surprised. "You didn't hear about what happened to his ship? I thought it was widely reported. I guess not many people on Coruscant care about Nabooian consuls though, now do they? Well, come with me, I'll show you his memorial." Moshe stood, her worn leather blaster holster creaking slightly with her movements, and gestured for Caden to follow.
Moshe led Caden out of her office and down a wide corridor of the palace. Their military boots made sharp sounds on the marble floor, and the clanking of their pins, holsters, and other decorations echoed up the tall walls and vaulted ceiling.
"About, oh... seven or eight months ago, the consul was en route to Csilla," Moshe began, "he was already deep in the Unknown Regions when we received a distress signal from his ship. They were being attacked by a spider-like cruiser with a Nagaian transponder code. We suspect it was a pirate craft."
She should have expected this, but Caden felt sick to her stomach anyway. She began to shake, and the corner of her eye started to twitch nervously.
They turned a corner, and Caden could see a small courtyard ahead of them -- their destination. "Well, needless to say we never heard from them again. The consul's ship was never found, nor were the bodies of the consul himself or any of his pilots. They are obviously presumed dead -- funerals were conducted a few months ago. The perpetrators... well, we don't really have the resources to go searching for them, and it would be futile anyway. Unfortunately, the Nagai have the advantage in this situation. There are warrants out for their arrest, but personally, I doubt that they will ever be brought to justice."
The two emerged into the bright courtyard. Sunlight poured into the small space, a tall henge of columns casting intermittent shadows across the brickwork beneath their feet. Before each column stood a bleach-white marble bust. "Prisoners of war. Missing in action. There aren't many of them, thankfully. But somehow, I think it's sadder this way," Moshe explained, sighing heavily. She pointed to a male bust off to the left. "That's the Consul Taverre there."
Caden was afraid to approach it. She knew what she would see, but was terrified of it anyway. She was nearing the bust, looking at it but through it, not wanting, or maybe not even able, to look it straight in the face. But there were people counting on her. This was about so much more than her own fears. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, tried to center herself -- and opened them again.
The consul was just an old man. Balding, deep jowls, bushy eyebrows, a mischievous smile on his lips and a far-off look in his eyes. This stone likeness of him was still and silent, but oh, it said so much. He was just an old man. Consul Solan Javek Taverre, the brass plate read.
Caden unhooked her commlink from her belt and brought it to her ear with an agonizing slowness -- as quickly as she could in her current state of shock. Not looking away from the bust, she called Sioni, who answered immediately. "Sioni... Arrest the consul and his bodyguard. This instant."
She didn't even wait for her captain's reply, hooking the commlink back onto her belt. She turned to the Minister of Defense. The older woman stared at her with wide eyes, an almost dumbfounded look on her face. "Caden, what is going on here?"
"I don't have time to explain. It's a long story and I need to get back to Coruscant. But we may have your Nagaian terrorists for you."
Moshe frowned. "Vice Admiral, please be careful."
"Always, Moshe. Thank you again for your time."
The two women saluted each other, and Caden took off in a sprint towards the hangar.