What I've Done

[Lina Ovmar]

Calina watched the energy cage tumble into the star with a dark expression. She might have been triumphant under different circumstances, the death of a mandalorian, and a high ranking one at that was something worth celebrating. But there was an energy in the air that suggested now was not the time.

Stepping over a body she moved to close the bay doors, shutting the view from sight. It seemed like the right thing to do, though she wasn't quite sure why.

"That went better than I expected. You alright?"

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

Mara held up a finger, then fell to her knees and vomited without ceremony. The 2-1B's head bounced away to rest against one of the bodies taken from Pau City’s battlefields. Mara retched until there was nothing left in her gut. By the time she stood up, the Mando shapeshifter's energy cage was lost in the nearby sun.

“Take that as a no,” she croaked. She stripped off the black armor of 'Lady Mendax’ a piece at a time and scrubbed off expensive disguise cosmetics and fake scars. She spat out the slim wads that had changed the contours of her face, and stripped off the bits of synthflesh that had altered her ears and chin. The reddish hair would have to stay until she could dye it again. The body language and vocal stress patterns of her Sith alter ego fell away as her Lorrdian mother had taught her. A tiny voice-changer chip went the way of the cheekbone pads. When this ship self-destructed, all of that would burn. It needed to burn.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

"Feth, Mara."

Calina moved forward to help her get out of the armour, before pulling her to her feet. "Should have let me do it." she muttered with a concerned scowl. Pulling free the few bits of synthflesh she'd missed. "Wouldn't be the first time I've experimented on sentients. Come on, let get out of here."

She tugged her towards the docking arm of the shuttle they'd arrived on. She needed a drink, they both did. A drink and some sleep before she found her way back to Empire space. No doubt the video would get ahead of her and she'd need her head on straight if Kaine had caught wind of it and identified her voice.

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

Helplessness wasn't a good look. Mara did her level best to support her own weight. Her best didn't turn out to be much. In a sick fog, she buckled up and moved the shuttle away from the Corellian freighter.

"Triggering the self-destruct. Five minutes." She'd spliced a remote into the freighter's reactor, small enough that the explosion would vaporize it. The shuttle moved off to a safe distance. It took a while to level out: her hands shook more than she'd like. Hardly Merrill flying.

"I know we might have just saved a lot of Coalition lives, but feth. It doesn't feel worth it. And no, I couldn't have let you do it. That'd've made me a coward." Mara closed her eyes and leaned back against the headrest. "Got enough sins for today."

 

[Lina Ovmar]

"Taking advantage of resources available to you isn't cowardice, Mara." Calina replied, a little sharply. Truth be told, she'd enjoyed the experiment, enjoyed the obvious pain the mandalorian had been in. A little too much. What was it Sarge had said about the dark side? That it was a cancer? Maybe, but she believed this had a lot more to to with upbringing than the force.

Mara had been loved and raised with morals. Calina had been raised amidst torture and torment, where death was a regular occurrence and playing with people was expected. "You only killed one woman and a mandalorian at that. Try to focus on the positives." She slid into the co-pilots chair, handing Mara a glass of something strong. She'd not bothered reading the label, it smelt and tasted good enough to do the job or numbing everything.

"We've a biological weapon that works even if it requires more testing, a dead mandalorian, and enough evidence to turn the bucketheads attention towards the Sith and away from you." She fell silent, eyes fixed on the wreckage, timer counting down in the corner of her eye.

"I'm sorry I didn't warn you."

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

Mara couldn't say much, just chewed on Calina's words. Though their perspectives would never quite line up, the Sith had a distinct point. They'd potentially saved who knew how many lives by killing Calina? And verified a cure for The Cure in the process?

"Today I lied to my Dad, lied to my country, stole and defaced the bodies of war heroes, kidnapped a prisoner of war and sent her to a really nasty death. And you know what the worst part is, Calina?" She leaned back in the pilot's seat and watched hyperspace glow blue through her eyelids. It didn't bring much comfort today. "I think I can live with it."

***​

​

A few days passed in a tense blur. Still nursing injuries from Pau City, Mara kept a low profile and a close eye on the evolving situation. Her father had taken out the D'Lessio, investigated the wreckage, run into a Mandalorian commander named Shia Kryze, and chased Calina out to Nibelungen. She and Calina, by all accounts, had tossed an awful lot of doubt at the situation. The Mandos and the Coalition had, more or less, collaborated to try and solve the puzzle. Neither party figured the Sith Empire was responsible, but Jorus pretty strongly believed he should blame an unaligned or rogue Sith. Maybe Velok, maybe not. The Ancient Eye had the Mandos' attention, apparently.

Didn't take much to pull the wool over her dad's eyes, but she still kept her involvement minimal, half because it felt wrong and half because even he would get suspicious if she started digging.

In the process, she contacted Calina through the usual channels. The D'Lessio had scanned down the make, model, and engine signature of Calina's ship, then forwarded it all to Taeli Raaf of Aurora. Raaf, in turn, had linked the ship's purchase to 'Anaya Hawkens' out of a bank account on Aargau. That made the ship and the alias into serious liabilities. Mara arranged a scrambled and expensive holocall to chat - probably not the wisest move, but with so many decisive actors at work, the situation could change at the drop of a hat.

She commed Calina while wearing a long coat, hood pulled down low, just in case the transmission got intercepted somehow.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

The chase to Nibelungen had tested her nerve, they had yet to hear from the either Empire as to the state of their affairs, but she'd also been taken the scenic route back to her 'Masters' side. Sometimes a little alone time did the world of good for a girl who spent ninety nine percent of her time surrounded by enemies. He wouldn't miss her, if he questioned her disappearance she'd a hundred things to lay at his feet as evidence of working on either of her two companies.

Still, even this far from the border, in an imperial shuttle, Calina's face was etched with fury at Mara's recklessness.

"There is a reason I call you." she snapped irritably. "What is it?"

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

Answering anger welled up in Mara, and she hunched a little farther under her hood. Unexpectedly useful things, hoods.

"Watch your back," she snapped. "My Dad may have trusted this Kryze character, but it's safe to assume she gave your alias and your ship's drive signature to the Cuir Rekr. And that means it could get back to Kaine from his brand shiny new daughter-in-law-to-be, Miss Mandalore. You think someone like him won't know if you lie to him? You need options, girl. You need exit plans now more than ever. So forgive me if I feel the need to check up on you."

 

[Lina Ovmar]

"Of course he knows. If he didn't know something was amiss he would have told me were hitting Utapau. As much as I don't want to be, as far as he is concerned I am my mothers daughter." She chewed the inside of her cheek settling back in her chair and blowing a sigh out of her nose.

If she didn't return, she admitted her guilt direct. If she did return, Kaine could have a trap laid waiting for her, or worse he could keep using her and she'd never know when it was coming. Whatever happened the gig was up. "Did you say daughter-in-law? Eugh, thats gross." she made a face. Deliberatley avoiding the problem at hand. "Not that his kids are ugly, but tying them to a mandalorian. I can't think of anything worse."

You haven't got any options. She thought. You're gonna have to step back into the vipers nest and face whatever comes your way.

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

"You've done a lot of good embedded in the Sith, but you gotta start thinking long term. It sounds to me like you're already burned, and that's just not tenable."

Mara chewed her lip in thought, burning a few hundred credits a minute.

"Okay, try this on for size and tell me.how it fits. We kill you off."

What she wanted to say, but didn't, was that Zambrano prison would be much, much worse than the Mando equivalent - and Calina had already spent too much time behind bars. Mentioning it wouldn't do: Calina knew the risks and didn't respond well to pressure.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Calina's eyes flashed. "I haven't done enough." the words fell out of her mouth before she could stop them. She averted her gaze for a moment, a muscle twitching in her jaw. The game is up. Time to cut your losses and run. Run like you mother. Her temper got the better of her for a fleeting moment and she smacked the can that was resting on the arm of her chair across the cockpit.

She closed her eyes, counted to ten and exhaled slowly before looking back at Mara, Composed and in control...just about. "Is that before or after we see how things pan out? As of yet, we don't know the reaction. We don't know if it worked and we don't know how shattered the relationship is and we won't know unless i go back in there. Kaine is on Mandalore, he joined them for the post Utapau celebrations. And I've been summoned." She glanced at her navicomp. "I'm less than a day out, you're not going to be able to kill me in that time. Not from the other side if the galaxy."

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

She'd struck a nerve. Noted.

"Fair points all around." So Kaine was on Mandalore, eh? Information worth its weight in gold, if she wouldn't have needed to explain how she knew. From here, in a Pau City Blockade Runner, she could get to the Mandalore area quick enough. Just in case.

"I'll be around. Stay safe."

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Calina managed a small smile. Mara's worry for her was still something she was struggling with as a concept.

"You too. I'll keep you posted."

She cut the call, and made a point of wiping the records. Just in case.

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]