Aboard the starstalker

"Sir," said the communications officer to Holpur, "The elders are attempting to contact us, telling us to stand down and surrender ourselves for punishment for blasphemy."

Holpur chuckled. "So amusing," he said.

There was what amounted to a palace close to the Fountain, on the far west side. This was where the Elders, the governing body of Klatooine, dwelt. Holpur knew they arose every morning and looked east, to the sun's first rays striking off the Fountain. They were no doubt seeing a quite different view now.

He called up an image of the Elder's palace on the small screen by his chair and regarded it thoughtfully. It had no defenses. Anyone could simply march right up and bang on the entrance. What were these people thinking? He could, with the Starstalker's weapons alone, blast it to rubble. He toyed with the idea, but he was too amused at the thought of these beings, like ants he was about to step on, yapping at him to cease and desist.

"Patch it through," he said.

"Copy, sir."

"…repeat, stand down! You are in violation of sacred space! We will not tolerate this!"

"Sir," said his communications officer, "They're sending out a distress signal. They're trying to contact the Hutts to come protect them."

"Let them," said Holpur. "I know what the situation is. The Hutts have not cared much for this planet since the war with the beings known as the Yuuzhan Vong. It will be days, or at the very least, hours, before the Hutts deign to send a response unit, and we shall be long gone."

Inside the elders' palace

"Repeat, stand down!"

Darima Kedari paced back and forth. The emergency session of the Elder Governors was in chaos. They were shouting at one another, and finally Darima, the Chancellor, abandoned any effort at civility to his fellow Elders.

"Silence!" he bellowed, shaking his staff of office at them. "I cannot hear myself think!"

The moment they had been notified of the blasphemy, they had of course contacted their defenses in Treema. And they were on their way—such as they were. There were approximately five ships of any size that were in sufficiently good flying order that they would be of any use at all. The Governors could hire mercenaries among those visiting Treema, of course, but that took time, and the Fountain was being violated now. The Hutts had not left them much with which to defend themselves, assuring the Klatooinians that if the need arose, the Hutts would, per the treaty, come to protect them. Where were they now? An urgent signal had been sent, with the plea that would surely grab the attention of their masters:

The Fountain is being violated. Come at once.

All would now be thrown into chaos.

Anger and rage tore at his heart. This precious, exquisite thing, this symbol of beauty and strength and timelessness—blood was being spilt on it, strangers who had no love or understanding of it had come and simply taken what they wanted. How dare they!

"How did we not foresee this?" he cried, clenching his fists as he beheld the sacrilege.

"We never dreamed anyone would harm it," said the frail, elderly female Mashu Tek Barik. Tears stood in her eyes. "It is forbidden to no one—we ask no payment to see it, even to touch it. We could not conceive of…this."

She waved a bony hand in the direction of the Fountain.

"Where are the ships?" demanded someone else. "Where are the ships to defend the Fountain?"

"It is too late," said Mashu softly. "It is done. It is done."

And suddenly, the realization broke over Darima with an intensity so strong he broke out in a sweat and had to grasp the back of his chair. She was right. It was done.

"The Hutts will come" came another voice. Blood was thundering in Darima's ears so he could not even tell who was speaking. "They will destroy these blasphemers. They will exact revenge for what they have done. They will pay. They will pay!"

Others murmured hopeful agreement, but Darima glanced over at Mashu. She was rocking back and forth slightly, staring at the light freighter that now opened to let the skiff return. Return with the blasphemers, with the wintrium they had stolen.

And he thought that Mashu was right.