Quelling and Quarrels

Koska dragged the prisoner with her to inform Bo-Katan. The Lady's surprise at the stowaway was dulled by her continued trouble with the matter of the sabre, not to mention the lingering anger she felt toward Koska. Bo-Katan ordered her to put the Imperial in the brig with Gideon, at which point Koska shared the status of the cell's door with her. As expected, she then ordered her subordinate to find the next best place to keep the officer from causing trouble. Koska went on her way with her captive still cuffed while Bo-Katan made for the bridge to have the others conduct a sweep of the vessel.

In spite of the Mandalorian's threat to her, the communications officer seemed keen on making things difficult. First she directed her captor to the engine room at the aft of the ship, then to one of the observation ports at the bow, then to the mouse droid depot. When the officer deliberately misled them to the fitness centre in a corridor Koska could swear she had searched earlier, she snapped.

Taking hold of her hair and the cuffs behind her back, Koska shoved the officer face-first into a wall. "Enough already, Imp'! I am not in the mood for your nonsense! Tell me a good place to keep you before I seal you in one of the bunk rooms and forget which!"

"Guh. Swallow a detonator, scum," the officer spat back, her words squished like her cheek against the metal surface.

"Just asking for the airlock..." Koska muttered to herself. Knowing better than to waste her time asking for cooperation, the Mandalorian gripped the other woman's sleeve and jerked it up her arm. She scanned the exposed skin with a device on her gauntlet.

"What are you doing?" the Imperial demanded.

"Shut it," Koska barked. She waited for the computations to go through before a hologram sprouted from the device. Skimming over the chain code, she found what she was looking for. Maintaining one hand to pin the captive to the wall, she opened her communicator. "Djarin, you there? If you have a moment, I could use a favour."

"Your mistress has us combing the ship for others hiding onboard. Is it important?"

"Yes, it'll only take a moment."

"What do you need?"

"Search New Republic databases for anything on one Mageli Busfaun. See if she's got anything to answer for."

"Understood." Din closed the channel.

"What are you getting at?" the officer asked.

"You seem like a lot more trouble than you're worth. If the New Republic wants you for anything from a docking violation to a genocide, I think I'm more than happy to let them take you the first chance I get."

"That's hardly a threat," the officer scoffed. "As if your intentions were ever anything but that."

“Maybe so,” Koska said indifferently, “but it was never certain where we would turn you in. I hear that some of the more remote New Republic garrisons like to take some time with their captured Imps before passing them along for trial. If that’s the case, you had better hope your record is cleaner than a Naboo starship, for your own sake.”

The officer thrashed for a moment before Koska reminded her how firm her grip was. A moment later her gauntlet beeped with an incoming call and she accepted.

"Find anything?"

"Nothing," Din responded. "The New Republic has a file on the Imp, but there's nothing about known or suspected offenses beyond associating with the Empire."

Koska's lips set in a dissatisfied line. She looked at Busfaun, but the officer allowed her face to be held against the wall. "Thank you. That will be all."

"What's your plan anyway?" the officer asked insincerely. "If you barbarians are trying to get your homeworld back, I think it's about time you found a new sanctuary to bomb into desolation."

In a swift and violent display, Mageli was ripped from her place on one wall and thrown against the opposite. She had only enough time to bounce off the metal surface before Koska was pinning her from behind once again. The Mandalorian used her arms and leg to lock her in place. She brought one hand around the Imperial's throat and pulled her head back as far as it could go without doing any lasting harm. Rolling her eyes back, Mageli could just see an inverted Koska.

"You pretentious, self-righteous, spawn of a mynock!" Koska blew up. "I don't care how defunct your brain is, you cannot be so impressively dense as to think you are any sort of moral agent! The evil and suffering brought about by your Empire will be all that-"

The Mandalorian woman stopped in the middle of her rage as she noticed something off. She shifted the leg she had the Imperial pinned between the legs with and watched as her captive shivered.

"No..." Koska withdrew her leg and reached around Busfaun with her free hand. Without hesitation, she groped the other woman with an investigative touch.

The Imperial's mouth went wide and her eyelids fluttered.

"You have got to be kidding me..."

Lassoed back into reality by the voice of her enemy, Busfaun made another weak attempt at throwing off the warrior's grip to predictable results. Koska spun her around and held her in place with a hand on one shoulder. The expression she was met with was three parts resentment, and one part shame. Koska could not help but to scoff at her. In a desperate display of defiance, the officer spat on her.

Without even thinking, the Mandalorian's hand flew to her jaw, clasping it aggressively. Instead of a desired response of fear or concession, the officer gasped and her eyes widened. Neither shame nor resentment were in her visage any more, and that irked Koska.

"Get moving," she growled, shoving her captive down the corridor. If the cur was not going to pick a suitable holding space, then she would pick one for her.

Koska drove Busfaun back to the crew quarters. She picked an officer's room, swept it for any tools she wanted out of reach, then disabled the internal door control with the butt of her blaster. She threw the Imperial remnant inside and locked it shut.

Alone, she looked at the hand she had touched that despicable wretch with. She rubbed her fingers together to feel for any residue. "Twisted bitch," she sighed in exasperation. "No wonder she was so loyal to the Empire if a little intimidation gets her all..." Koska shuddered, hesitant to complete the thought.

Minutes later, she and everyone else had gathered on the bridge once more.

"The rest of the ship is clear," Cara reported.

"Bio-scan of the cruiser says there's no one else hiding," Fennec added.

"Even so, we've disabled remaining craft in the hangar," Boba said. "No one's leaving without our knowing about it."

"But do we know that the Imps don't have anything else rigged?" Bo-Katan posed the question to them all. "No kill-switch for life support? No second batch of droid troopers?"

Needless to say, none of them could have known the answers, and so the bridge was quiet.

She's beginning to sound paranoid now, Koska thought.

"We need to ensure there aren't further disruptions," Bo-Katan stated.

With regard to which problem?

"Interrogate the prisoners," Lady Kryze commanded. "Dune, you take Gideon, and Koska, you take the other."

"Might need some help," Cara admitted. "Gideon's already proven he knows a dangerous amount about us."

"I can join," Fennec volunteered. "Won't be my first time prying information from the jingoistic sort."

"Don't be too rough on him," Boba said facetiously.

"I know, I know. No disfigurations."

The group parted ways once more, but Koska lingered to speak with her mistress. One look from Bo-Katan and she knew that little episode in the closet was not behind them yet. Even so, she insisted on pulling her superior aside.

"Might I suggest that you get some rest?" Koska said in the most polite voice she could muster in the moment.

"Excuse me?" Bo-Katan blinked at her.

"These past hours have been trying on all of us, not least of which you." Koska did her best to appeal to the other Mandalorian. "When a solution proves elusive, it can be helpful to take a step back, let your mind reset, and then return to the problem. I understand that-"

"No, you don't understand," Bo-Katan interrupted her. "I have the fate of all the people of Mandalore riding on my shoulders and just when things are finally going our way, a new problem throws itself at us. I have been at this for years and there is still so, so much that needs to be done before we can get back to building the future that our people deserve; that Satine deser-" she stopped as her voice caught in her throat. She looked away from Koska, a storm of emotions roiling behind those eyes.

Koska reached out and grabbed Bo-Katan's hand, clasping her fist around her superior's. She looked her dead in the eyes. "My Lady, I am trying to help you. You have been giving this your all for as long as I have known you, but you are only one woman. You need to catch your breath the same as anyone else."

Bo-Katan took a slow breath and recomposed herself. "All right. I'll try until we arrive. Interrogate that prisoner and keep me informed of any developments."

"I will," Koska nodded with a sigh. She had been hoping that her mistress would lose interest in grilling the Imperial if she recognised how out of sorts she was. She could hardly imagine getting anything useful out of Busfaun, but if accepting the task got Lady Kryze to relax, then it would be worth it.