Stark Industries, Monday

[endsthegame]

Ender had known his good mood couldn't last forever. 'Mandalorians on the move. Possible police action', was the note Alai had managed to send him an hour or so after he'd gotten into the store, and now Ender was just... waiting.

Police action. Such a nice, clean little euphemism for violent assault in the name of the law. Like so many desperate, failing governments before her, Daala was stepping into every trap imaginable, leaving a trail of bodies in her wake.

Not that this was important. Where? Who? Those questions were important.

"Got anything else?" he asked Jane.

"All is quiet on the western front," she replied.

"No fronts in space," Ender murmured quietly. "Too many fronts in space. Keep watching."

He rubbed his forehead and got back to work.

[[ jane nfb, post open! ]]

Comments

[momslilassassin]

Ben came in at the usual time, toting cartons of Chinese food. "Ho, kreetle."

[endsthegame]

"Ho, Ben," Ender muttered, looking at his screen.

He was still hoping for more details.

[momslilassassin]

"What's caught your attention?" Ben asked, setting the food down and coming around to rest his hands on Ender's shoulders.

[endsthegame]

"Might be nothing," Ender said. "But I've been hearing rumors about Daala siccing her pet Mandalorians on someone else. I just don't know who or where."

[momslilassassin]

Ben frowned hard. "Not the Temple?"

[endsthegame]

Ender shook his head. "No, they've been dispatched to somewhere off-Coruscant," he said. "I know that."

[momslilassassin]

"Would she go after the training centers?" Ben wondered aloud. "Or is this a non-Jedi target?"

[endsthegame]

"She's already made enough of a PR blunder out of the Jedi," Ender said. (He was also pretty sure that if she'd launched anything of the kind, he'd have heard about it, but that laid in the area of 'things he didn't want Ben to know about unless he needed to') "I doubt that's it. But I do know it won't be long until we hear about it."

[momslilassassin]

Ben's hands tightened against Ender's shoulders. "Okay," he said quietly. "But if she's not using the real military...I have a bad feeling about where they might be going."

[endsthegame]

"My best guess?" Ender asked, looking up. "She's hoping to put an end to some of the slave riots. This won't be pretty."

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded, looking a little green despite himself. "That's what I was thinking too."

[endsthegame]

Ender reached up, covering one of Ben's hands with his own. He wasn't sure what to say, exactly. "I'll keep you updated," he promised.

[momslilassassin]

"Thanks," Ben said, brushing a kiss against the top of Ender's head. "It's hard to just sit here and wait to see what happens."

[endsthegame]

"In this case, there's very little you could do either way," Ender murmured. "Couldn't go chasing Mandalorians right now - you'd be heading for your father the moment we cross that threshold."

[momslilassassin]

"You know me too well," Ben said, but it wasn't a complaint.

[endsthegame]

"I try to," Ender said, shrugging off Ben's hands so he could wheel his chair around and face him.

[momslilassassin]

Ben gave him an unconvincing smile and slid into a nearby chair. "It is what it is, right?"

[endsthegame]

"Generally speaking, most things are," Ender said, "But in cases like this, I'd hardly blame you for wanting to put a stop to it."

He reached for Ben's hand.

[momslilassassin]

Ben squeezed Ender's fingers in reply. "Slavery is wrong, if anything was ever wrong," he said. "This shouldn't even be under discussion."

[endsthegame]

Ender smiled, massaging Ben's palm just a little bit with his thumb. "And yet, it'll take most of these places years - decades - before this finally gets deinstitutionalized," he said. "It'll take time. But it's starting now--" Suspicious as the circumstances were starting to get, "--and I doubt it will be stopped everywhere."

[momslilassassin]

"I'm just not sure Daala will see that," Ben said, shutting his eyes and concentrating on Ender's thumb. "She'll see this as another attempt to undermine her control."

[endsthegame]

"There's no denying that she does," Ender said mildly, "Or we wouldn't have Mandalorians out on the war path right now."

He didn't stop, hoping it was calming.

[momslilassassin]

"It'll be a slaughter," Ben whispered.

[endsthegame]

Ender's expression softened, sorrow creeping in around his eyes.

"Yes."

[momslilassassin]

Ben shifted so that he could rest his head against Ender's shoulder, trying to give and get comfort at the same time. "No chance any of your contacts think she'll change her mind?"