#gudry

“Hey, slice-rat.”

“Greetings, asshole.”

Gudry folded his arms across his chest, furrowing his brow as he looked Dayja up and down.

“What?” Dayja hissed, stirring an inordinate amount of sugar into his caf.

“You look like shit,” Gudry said simply. “Like, shit that was left out to dry in the sun, eaten by a confused nerf, and shat out all over again.”

“Poetry,” Dayja muttered, cradling his mug close to his face. “You sure know how to make a girl feel special, Gurdy.”

Gudry rolled his eyes. “Never gets old for you, does it?”

“Until somebody does something funnier than Inspector Motti shouting ‘Shut up, Gurdy,’ no: it will not get old. But I encourage you to try. Fuck knows I could use a good laugh.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Gudry said, leaning against the table beside Dayja and giving him another look-over. “What do they have you doing? Heard you were making the runs as a spice-addicted hooker or something?”

“Nah... bit passé,” Dayja said.

“It all is, I guess," Gudry said. After a beat, he added, “Surprised Yularen brought me in for this and not the blonde wonder. Finally facing the music, I guess.”

“What are you talking about?” Dayja asked with a bored sigh.

“You’re telling me you haven’t noticed? Kallus has been—“

“Batonn's a delicate job and Kallus isn’t exactly known for his skill in covert-ops,” Dayja interrupted.

A muscle ticked in Gudry’s jaw. “He’s decent enough. My guess? Yularen’s finally noticed just how fucking unhinged he’s been these past couple years. And between the two of you, he’s not even the one with the little problem.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“No? He’s been stuck on the same backwater cesspool chasing after the same rag-tag group of insurgents—which include kids, from what I hear—only he’s been so fucking distracted he can’t even handle basic security on Coruscant. And that’s the generous interpretation of events.” He shook his head. “Mark my words—there is something going on in that giant, entitled blonde head.”

“You know, your head could be smaller, too,” Dayja pointed out neatly between sips.

“Last time I saw him, he even—“

“Just lay off, alright?” Dayja said sharply. His tone was quiet but effective if the way Gudry’s eyes flickered in hesitation was any indication.

Gudry recovered quickly, his face steeling. “What the hell is it with you and that prick?” he demanded in a low voice. “You’re smart—you know he doesn’t give two shits about you: I know you do. So why in space do you insist on defending him, again and again and again? You think he would’ve stood up to Savit for you the way you did for him?”

“Any particular reason I’m being graced with this dramatic performance?” Dayja asked flatly. After a moment he added with a hint of a growl, “Again?”

In your We Regret fic, we have finally reached Batonn. The charges have been set, triggered, and Thrawn has been burdened with the ensuing massacre of civilians. The circumstances of the carnage were a direct result of Pryce setting off the charges (using Gudry’s comm) BEFORE she disabled the shields (thus, forcing the blast down/wide - enough to cover her murder of Gudry) the passage in Thrawn (2017) as described by Zahn:

Pryce has used Gudry’s comm to trigger the explosion at quite a distance from his body. It is also my understanding that Pryce:

1. Did not destroy the comm after triggering it

2. Still (possibly) had the comm on her person

It is well known that comm signals can be tracked long after transmissions have taken place. It would be safe to assume that Gudry’s comm has its own signature, thus, traceable. Why do you suppose that it was never addressed:

1. The location of signal that caused the detonation was indeed not related to the location of Gudry’s body

2. The comm was still active after the fact (Pryce would have to have destroyed it immediately to maintain situation consistency, but the evidence (text) does not suggest this) Why would the sophisticated IT specialists at the ISB not track/detect this?

It is entirely possible — more than possible: probable — that I missed a simple explanation/passage that covers this conundrum/oversight. My thoughts are that since you just wrote about this incident in your fic (yes, folks I have timed this query for awhile) it is likely you have recently scrutinized these events.

As always, thank you ever so kindly for indulging my overactive everything.

I don't think you missed anything. It's not explained. And apologies because I’m about to go on and on.

As for my analysis, I expect if she did destroy the comm (and that would be the smart thing to do) she would do it via an incinerator. She couldn't risk just leaving it lying about to be found, and have people wonder why Gudry's comm was outside the shield when it's clear he was killed inside. It would have been nice to have a single sentence to tie off that loose end, but instead we have to speculate. Which I suppose is all to the good for fanfic writers. And you are absolutely right; it is dangerous as hell for her to hang onto the thing assuming it can be traced and since we are all traceable through our cell phones it seems unlikely that the same tech isn't available to the Empire. So, I think we have to assume she found a way to destroy it. My explanation for why they couldn't tell that the signal originated from outside the shield is that the insurgents had disabled whatever pass for cell towers in their enclave and in the surrounding area, and it's clear that Pryce only waited until they were a few steps outside the shield to detonate the cache of expiosives.

As for why they would do that; you would't want the Imperial navy to pick up your transmission and send a missile up your ass when the shield was opened briefly. Also if they got an ISB kill team to infiltrate, you are once again pinpointing your location if that tech hasn't been neutralized. (Ask some Russian generals in Ukraine about using phones that pinpoint their location... oh wait, we can't.) And finally I think that politics kept Thrawn and particularly Yularen from voicing their suspicions. Pryce at this point is a particular favorite of Tarkin, who is the second most powerful man in the Empire, more trusted than Vader and certainly more than Thrawn. And what they have for proof is at best circumstantial, and at worst mere conjecture.