Beyond - Legends Children of Mandalore: Red Fang (LotF, OCs, Jacen Solo) *2015 Best Series Award Nominee*

A/N: OK well here is the next update. I made it a bit longer to make up for the shortness of the previous one and also the delay in posting it. I hope you guys like it!


CHAPTER EIGHTEEN


HYPERSPACE, EN-ROUTE TO THE KU'BAKAI SYSTEM, 40 ABY
ONE WEEK BEFORE THE BLOCKADING OF CORELLIA


Ryia had been right, once again, Delia Skirata had been able to trace back the so called 'echoes' discovered by Ryia's contact on Davstaa and created an amazing web of intelligence for them to follow up on. Inside of an hour Delia had uncovered more than enough information to enable them to track down the mystery man Rowel. The account on Davstaa had been set up by known New Republic Intelligence agents two years before the start of the Yuuzhan Vong war.

Along with that bit of information Delia had also discovered a holoimage of Rowel, who turned out to be a human male in his mid thirties. Digging a little further into Rowel they discovered that he actually spent very little time on Davstaa, only coming to the planet to retrieve cash payments that were assumed to be used to bribe officials on Jabiim, which was where he had spent most of his time.

Their target wasn't using the name Rowel on Jabiim though, instead he was using the alias Tharin Jengar. Digging into that alias they discovered that Tharin Jengar was a political adviser to the Jabiimi head of state. That prompted a check into the political climate of Jabiim at that time and revealed that Jabiim had started to go through a very violent shift in political regimes. Taking advice from his trusted inner circle, with Tharin Jengar at the center, the Jabiimi head of state used military force to clamp down on a small anti-government movement. The use of force backfired and a short period of civil unrest and violent riots began to occur throughout the capitol city.

Based on what Rixa knew of the Red-Fang operation, it was identical to the ground work being laid out in previous Red-Fang operations before introducing new people that could be more easily swayed by the New Republic into power. It appeared that Red-Fang had indeed been in operation on Jabiim, but no reports had ever been filed on the matter. At least none that had been provided by the intelligence packet Neada Tash had given him.

After cross referencing the image of Rowel through some databases, that Delia shouldn't have had access to, it led them to the confirmation that Rixa and Ryia had both suspected for a while. Rowel was an alias. The true name of the man in the picture was Luric Braren, a little further digging into his past revealed an impressive career in the New Republic special forces before being recruited into NRI by then Lieutenant Iman Vitrix for the operation that would become Red-Fang. They now had a name and face to add to their target, the hunt for Red-Fang could truly begin.

Rixa sat back in the pilots chair of his Aggressor-class starship as some more information about Luric Braren sent by Delia scrolled across the display screen in front of him. It appeared that Braren had quite a lot of dealings with a group of smugglers called the Crimson Banner commanded by a man known only as Welk. Welk and his crew were currently located just off of Kubindi, which probably meant that they were taking on a load of spice from Kessel to deliver to the Hutts for disbursement to their dealers. It was a fairly well known smuggling run amongst galactic criminality, but the Galactic Alliance did very little in the way of interdiction operations in that particular area.

All Rixa had to do now was find the Crimson Banner's ship and convince their leader into having a sit down. It was surely going to upset the smuggler's timetable to a certain degree, but shelling out some credits from the advance payment Vitrix had forked over would probably soothe all of their problems. Even though the chances of Welk having any knowledge of Luric Braren's current whereabouts were slim to none, it was the best piece of information that Rixa had found yet.

Some of the stress that Rixa had been feeling since leaving Mandalore a few weeks earlier began to lift itself from his shoulders now that they had decent information, as well as a credible lead that could possibly give them a last known location on their target. Not only did he finally have decent information, he had put together a decent crew for the job. Almost every member had been involved in the horrific fighting against the Yuuzhan Vong, nothing more than children who had become men while being baptized in the fires of war.

As cynical, angry and paranoid as some of them may have become in the following years since that conflict, they had been there and done that and knew how to get the job done. Ryia Devieyc and his younger brother Rev were rock solid soldiers of the sort who knew no fear in the heat of battle, Elai Kareb was a Kiffar and the finest sharpshooter to ever come out of the southern hills around Keldabe, Baydo Titus was more or less a gundark in human form that had a vast knowledge of things that made highly potent explosions, then there was Rixa's adopted nephew Jaiden and his girlfriend Niya Dinn. The two of them were highly gifted slicers, though not at the same level as Delia but still good enough to get through most security mainframes and into places they weren't supposed to.

When it came time to actually locate and eliminate Braren, Rixa had little doubt that it was going to take the combined skills of every one of his teammates to bring the very elusive intelligence operative down. Ryia was dozing in the co-pilots chair next to Rixa and let out a startled snort when the navicomputer let out an electronic trill to signal their imminent drop back into real space. Ryia quickly pulled himself out the fog of sleep and sat upright in his chair. He began to warm up the Aggressor's weapons systems, pirates most of the time weren't the friendliest of people.

Rixa gave him a tired smile and pulled back on the hyperspace controls. The blue-black of hyperspace stretched back out into starlines that almost instantly snapped back into stationary motes of light against the abyss of space. Kubindi itself was a dry and arid world, nothing more than a dustbowl created by the radiation from the intense solar flares coming from the primary star of the system. The spice transfer would most likely be taking place somewhere just off of the planet rather than down in the hive cities created by the native Kubaz.

"Do a quick scan of the area looking for clusters of ships." Rixa told Ryia. "They will probably be hiding in the shadow of the planet, less radiation and better odds of remaining undetected there."

"It's also to be expected." Ryia reminded him. "Why meet up with a spice supplier in a place where possible enemies might know where to look for you?"

"True," Rixa said. "But you'd have to be insane to try and rip off a Hutt's spice shipment."

"Because Hutts usually have people like us on their payroll." Rev Devieyc said from one of the many crash-couches that made up the crew area behind Rixa and Ryia.

"That's right little brother."

Rixa raised his hands in defeat. "Fine go ahead and search the entire sector then, I'm telling you now that we'll find them in the shadow of the planet."

"Just like you said you'd never ask Delia Skirata for help?" Elai laughed.

"Technically I didn't, Ryia did. But that's neither here nor there." Rixa snapped. "Just search the dark side of the planet, and if nothing is there then we'll do a larger scan of the area."

Ryia sighed but did as he was instructed. It wasn't too much later when the sensor readout began to beep. "Two contacts; one light freighter and one luxury transport. Looks like they're docked together."

Rixa grinned triumphantly. "Where are they located?"

"Just inside the shadow of the planet." Ryia said reluctantly.

"Just like I said they would be, send the coordinates to the navicomputer and set a course towards those two ships."

"Aye, aye captain." Ryia said with a touch of good natured sarcasm as he entered the coordinates.

"Which ship do you think belongs to our merry band of pirates?" Jaiden asked as he pulled on his helmet.

"I'm going to say the light-freighter." Rixa said. "Some pirate organizations like to travel in style, but that little luxury yacht isn't big enough to carry the amount of crew that this Crimson Banner group supposedly operates with. That yacht is probably the owner of which ever mining organization the Hutts are using these days to get their spice."

"I thought the spice trade was decimated by the Yuuzhan Vong?" Niya said from her seat next to Jaiden.

Elai laughed. "It may have been for a while, but do you really think the Hutts are just going to let a massive portion of their profits go without making any attempt to salvage what ever they could?"

"Well that means the Hutts will have more business for us in the end right?" Niya said as she secured her restraints.

Rixa nodded. "That's certainly one way of looking at it."

"Well, well looks like our friends down yonder want to have a chat with us." Ryia said. "We're receiving an incoming comm message."

Rixa threw a switch on the console in front of him and the cabin of the Aggressor was filled with a scratchy, hissing voice.

"Unidentified craft, state your intentions and prepare an exit vector out of the area."

"Trandoshan," Ryia mouthed silently to Rixa.

"Unidentified freighter this is the Mandalorian craft Defender, we're here to present the leader of the Crimson Banner with a business proposition." Rixa said evenly.

"There is no Crimson Banner here." The voice replied quickly. "Divert from your current course and exit the system now."

"Can't do that I'm afraid." Rixa said. "I've got solid information on exactly where the Crimson Banner are located, and that location is here. I've been around the block more than a few times and know that you're probably loading a shipment of spice onto your vessel as we speak. I realize stopping to chat with me will set back your timetable a little and I'm willing to pay fifty-thousand credits to have a quick conversation with your leader."

There wasn't an immediate response and Rixa and Ryia traded looks for a few seconds before a new voice came over the channel. A human this time.

"This is Gar Fend, commanding officer of the Crimson Claw. What do you want with me?"

"I'm looking to speak with Welk, the head of the Crimson Banner." Rixa said.

"Welk hasn't been in charge of the Crimson Banner for almost eight years." Gar Fend replied. "He had a business deal with some members of the Black Sun, it went bad and I've been in command ever since. Now what do you want."

"I'd like to come aboard and have a face-to-face discussion."

"You said you were a Mandalorian? Does that go for the six others on your ship, not counting the droid you forgot to mention of course?"

Rixa winced, once again he had forgotten that he had Jaya's little astromech droid Rusty with him. But he wasn't impressed with Gar Fend either, running a sensor scan on an unknown ship bearing down on you was standard smuggling procedure.

"Yes we're all Mandalorians." Rixa said, his voice reflecting how just how unimpressed he was with the smuggler.

"What did you want with Welk?"

"I wanted to talk with him about an old associate of his, one me and my comrades are currently hunting. Our target had a lot of dealings with your crew in the last decade, maybe you could help us instead."

"Why would I want to do that?" Fend asked. "The goods we're shipping are worth about fifty-times what you're offering us. I don't have the time to aid wayward bounty hunters."

Rixa didn't get discouraged, he hadn't come as far as he had to be turned down by a common smuggler. "You're a smuggler transporting some high-value cargo to the Hutts, I'm sure there are people out there who would love to have that cargo instead of seeing it go to Nal Hutta."

"Is that a threat Mandalorian?" Fend asked, his voice gaining some bite.

"I don't make idle threats over comm frequencies, if I'm going to threaten you I'm going to do it to your face." Rixa said. "I'm offering our services as professional security contractors, in exchange for a few minute of your time."

"How exactly are seven Mandalorians going to protect our cargo all the way from a separate ship?"

Rixa glanced at Ryia. "Once you are done loading your cargo, I will dock my ship with yours and three of my comrades and I will come aboard your ship. After we reach your destination and offload your cargo we will have our conversation and then we will go our separate ways."

There was a pause on the other end of he conversation as the smuggler was surely contemplating the pros and cons of having Mandalorians on his ship. Rixa was sure that Fend was used to usually having security agents who were drunk more than they were sober. The chance to have professional soldiers guarding his merchandise for a change would be something very hard to pass up.

"I agree to your terms Mandalorian." Fend said. "Give us twenty-minutes to finish loading our cargo and then bring your craft alongside ours."

"Twenty-minutes," Rixa said. "I'm glad we could come to an agreement."

The line clicked off and Ryia exhaled audibly. "So who are we taking with us?"

Rixa laughed. "What makes you think I was going to take you with me?"

"If you seriously think I'm going to let you go onto a smuggling ship without me then you must be off your rocker." Ryia said.

"Elai and Niya." Rixa laughed. "You two are going to come with us, Baydo I'm leaving you in charge. Take the ship to Nar Shadaa after you disembark, we'll radio you for pick up after we finish up with these Crimson Banner smugglers."

"How come I always get left behind on these little excursions?" Rev protested as he stood up from his crash couch.

"You aren't exactly what they call...diplomatic, little brother." Ryia said. "You're a hot head and smugglers don't tend to be the most stable of people."

"The last thing we want is a firefight." Rixa said. "Stay here and watch my ship. The next time we have to board a smuggling vessel you can board it by yourself if you want."

The other Mandalorians all began to laugh and Rev dropped back down into his crash couch looking non too pleased with the situation.

"Baydo give Elai your scattergun just in case. His Verpine rifle won't be much use inside close quarters if we do get into a scuffle." Rixa said.

The large Mandalorian traded weapons with the slender Kiffar sniper.

"You know how to use it right?" Baydo asked.

"Ha-ha." Elai grunted. "Yeah I know how to use a scattergun, do you know how to use a sanisteam?"

The cabin broke out into laughter again. For the next twenty minutes the Mandalorians sat and traded good natured verbal jabs at each other while Rixa oriented their ship in the direction of the light freighter named the Crimson Claw. The longer Rixa stared at the freighter in the distance the more something about it seemed off.

"Ryia, you said that was a light freighter right?"

The older Mandalorian nodded his head. "Yeah, why?"

"Because that looks an awful lot like a Brayl-class freighter to me." Rixa said.

"What's the difference?" Jaiden asked from the rear of he Aggressor.

"About sixty something crewers." Ryia said as he began fiddling with the scanners again. "It still shows up as a light freighter on the readout."

Rixa shook his head. "I don't think so, the scanners must be faulty."

"Don't you have anything that isn't falling apart?" Baydo asked.

"Just my marriage." Rixa said tiredly.

He sighed heavily and rubbed at his eyes. A new scanning system was going to cost him just over five-thousand credits, and that was for a cheap one. In his business he couldn't rely on floppy scanner readouts anymore than he could a plastifoam blaster, that meant shelling out major credits that he didn't have. At least not yet. Finding Red-Fang would certainly fix most of his financial woes for a good while, but first he had to deal with Gar Fend and his smuggler crew.

The luxury transport detached from the Crimson Claw and Rixa maneuvered the Aggressor into the space the other transport had just vacated. A slight vibration ran through the Aggressor's hull and was followed by an audible thud as the two crafts joined together. Rixa pulled on his helmet and proceeded over to the hatch, Ryia, Elai and Niya following right behind him.

Baydo reached out and grabbed Rixa by his bicep. "Are you sure going over there is a good idea?"

"They don't want trouble anymore than we do." Rixa said with a shrug. "So what could go wrong?"

"With only four of you climbing aboard a ship with sixty or seventy spice runners in it? What are the chances of anything going wrong?" Rev asked from his seat.

Rixa looked at Ryia. "You do know that your brother is slowly becoming more like Kial Volar everyday right?"

Ryia grunted. "I'm becoming aware of the similarities, I'm starting to think that Kial may be a bad influence on him."

Rev gave a sarcastic chuckle as Rixa opened the hatch and proceeded into the Crimson Claw. As he stepped into the hold of the freighter a group of aliens approached him from the far side, Trandoshans, Weequays, and Niktos mostly, in the center of the formation was a well built human male in his early-to-mid forties with shoulder length auburn hair. Ryia and the others stepped into the hold behind Rixa and fixed their attention on the approaching group.

"That must be Gar Fend." Ryia said.

"I'm going to have to say that is a safe bet." Rixa agreed.

The hatch sealed behind the Mandalorians and a few moments later a dull thud and subtle vibration rolled through the Crimson Claw as the Aggressor broke the docking seal and departed. Gar Fend and his alien escort came to a halt about a meter from Rixa and his three man team. A Trandoshan with scales that were an ugly, burned orange color took a step forward.

"Four Mandalorians, bah how are four of them going to increase the security of our shipment?" the Trandoshan asked without looking away from Rixa.

The human man in the center stepped forward but did not step past the Trandoshan. "It is said that one Mandalorian equals ten Galactic Alliance commandos, Krosk. Your people don't even have the discipline of a single commando." the man said.

Rixa swallowed and turned on his vocabulator, it was time to make a good impression. "Gar Fend I presume?" he asked.

The man nodded. "Yes I am Gar Fend, recently appointed leader of the Crimson Banner and captain of the Crimson Claw." Fend made a sweeping glance across the three Mandalorians behind Rixa. "You must be Rixa Numeck."

Rixa blinked rapidly behind his helmet but didn't say anything.

"Surprised?" Fend asked. "I've made a few enemies in the last few months after taking over Welk's responsibilities, and as such I've made it a point to keep track of some of my competitors favorite hitters. You've been a rather busy boy lately."

"You've been watching me?" Rixa said calmly.

"I haven't had you followed if that's what you mean," Fend said. "But you aren't a hard man to find really. So I'm only going to ask this once: are you here to try and kill me and steal my cargo?"

"No, I have no interest in spice." Rixa said. "I'm not working for the Black Sun or any of the others right now. I'm working for the Alliance."

Fend laughed but his Trandoshan let out a sharp hiss.

"The Galactic Alliance is probably the biggest enemy I have at the present. In the last two weeks I've given the runaround to at least seven interdiction teams."

Rixa's comlink activated with a soft burst of static. "Do you know what you're doing?" Ryia asked with a little tension in his voice.

"At this point I'm just winging it." Rixa said and closed the link. "Captain Fend I'm working for Galactic Alliance intelligence, we're looking for a terrorist named Luric Braren."

"Braren?" Fend said with a spark of recognition in his eyes. "I'm highly surprised to hear he is involved with terrorism."

"I've spent the better part of two months investigating this man, I can say with some authority that he is a terrorist." Rixa said.

"You must have some pretty incredible resources Mandalorian, even our people in the Galactic Alliance couldn't dig up any information on Braren when he came calling." Fend said touching his Trandoshan associate on the arm. Fixing Rixa and the others with a less than friendly gaze the Trandoshan stepped out of the way.

"What exactly did Braren do for you?" Rixa asked.

"He supplied Welk with intelligence, back in Palpatine's day the Imperials were caching spice all over the galaxy. They were regulating the flow of the stuff, allowing enough of it to fall into the hands of the Hutts to keep them satisfied but not enough to provide them with enough of an income to become a dangerous threat." Fend said motioning the Mandalorians to come and follow him. "When Palps bit the dust, the Empire had more on its mind than spice caches and over time the locations of the storehouses were lost. Until Braren came calling one day offering us intelligence on massive loads of glitterstim and other substances we could profit from."

"Welk went for it?" Ryia asked from behind Rixa as they proceeded through the hold and into a more lavish and comfortable area of the ship.

Fend waved at the many seats. "Please, have a seat." He said as he sat down behind an expensive looking worshyr wood table. Rixa nodded to his team and the four of them took seats at the table. "As it turned out Braren delivered as promised. He gave Welk one location for free, but the second one was going to cost a little."

"Braren wanted a cut of the deal you made with whoever you sold the spice to." Rixa stated.

"Correct." Fend said. "We made an easy five-hundred thousand credits off the first shipment, well Welk did anyway, I didn't come on board until they'd made three deals with Braren already."

"How many storehouses were there?" Elai asked as he removed his helmet and let his long dreadlocked hair fall out around him.

"A Kiffar Mandalorian, well well how interesting." Fend said tapping his bottom lip with his finger and looking at the qukuf marks on Elai's face. "Hundreds, maybe even a thousand. There were enough for Braren to be double dealing with another seller. A Kiffar named Mik Vopad, we've had some violent interactions with him in the last few years."

"He is the one responsible for the death of Welk." the Trandoshan hissed.

"Well we suspect he may have set up the deal between Welk and the Black Sun that went bad. It is certainly something he is capable of doing."

"Sounds like a real swell guy." Rixa grunted. "You still have dealings with Braren even though he's selling his information to someone else as well?"

"As long as he keeps providing spice locations, I'm willing to do business with him." Fend said. "I'd prefer to be his sole contract but he's entitled to make money off of others if he wishes to. Would you care for something to drink?"

Rixa understood. The same thing happened in the bounty hunter world, people who had him on their payroll also had other mercenaries doing their bidding.

"No thank you, we're fine." he said politely. "Have you seen Braren recently?"

Fend smiled. "Now, now we haven't reached our destination yet. I'm not about to give you everything you want before you've held up your end of the deal."

"Fair enough." Rixa said. "Tell me about this Vopad?"

Fend shrugged. "Vopad is much like myself, he's trying to make himself a small empire built from the greediness of some and the addictions of others."

"I take it you aren't very big on morals." Ryia added.

"That's funny coming from a man who kills for a living." Fend said smartly. "I know all about you Ryia Devieyc, you're probably the most dangerous man on this ship right now, you've got a beautiful wife and two children who must be three or four months old at this point but yet here you are on my spice freighter. Are you here because of some misplaced loyalty to your friend's older brother or do you just really need the money the Alliance is forking over? I find it very curious that you'd want to be away from your children especially considering they weren't born very long ago."

"Keep talking like that and you'll find out just how dangerous I am." Ryia said calmly. The menace and venom in his voice was very hard to overlook though.

"If it is money instead of loyalty, I'd be willing to arrange a deal with you and your crew. Having a few Mandalorians hanging around wouldn't be a bad thing." Fend said ignoring Ryia and returning his gaze to Rixa. "I'm sure it would make Vopad think twice about sabotaging our pickups and stealing our shipments."

"You give me information that leads to the capture of Luric Braren and I'll look into seeing what it would take to bring down Vopad's entire operation." Rixa said.

"It might take an army." Fend said. "Vopad isn't short of narrow-minded bantha fodder."

Rixa smiled behind his helmet. "A handful of Mandalorians is an army Captain."

Fend opened his mouth and in the same instant the freighter gave a massive shutter. The glowpanels overhead flickered twice and then went dark, emergency backup lighting kicked on seconds later, casting a blood red hue on the corridors. Fend was up on his feet immediately and took off down a corridor behind him. Rixa didn't hesitate and followed him. Pushing aside crewer after crewer, Rixa finally caught up with the Fend on what must have been the bridge. The view of space out of the forward viewscreen was impeded by the massive bulk of a Nebulon-B frigate. Fend looked up from a hurried conversation he was having with a Bith at one of the displays.

"The Alliance?" Rixa asked.

Fend shook his head. "Mik Vopad. He's got us in a tractor beam."

"Can I ask why you haven't bought a ship like that frigate instead of using this old freighter?" Ryia asked.

"Because the cost of upkeep and crew required to run that sized ship doesn't make it cost effective." Fend said.

"Captain they're launching boarding craft from their aft hangar bay." the Bith said.

Fend turned to his Trandoshan. "Go to alert status and get everyone into position, we don't have the power to break away from the tractor beam." He turned to Rixa. "My security operatives are going to take up defensive positions around the ship, pick two of your people to go with Korsk to the cargo hold and guard the shipment. You and your remaining teammate will come with me to the hatch and await our guests."

"Guests?" Rixa actually chuckled. "I don't think they're what I'd call guests."

Fend smiled. "I want to see if I can resolve this without violence first, but if not...well that is what you're here for aren't you?"

Rixa nodded and sighed. "Fine we'll do it your way, but we're going to do your way my way. Understand?" Rixa said.

Fend's brow furrowed slightly. "What do you mean?"

"You're going to stay with your crew, me and my people are going to go and meet whoever is in that shuttle." Rixa said. "We'll try to end this your way, without violence."

"I don't trust them." Korsk hissed. "They must be working for Vopad, how else would they have been able to find us out here?"

"We aren't here to steal from you or kill you, we just want the information we asked for." Ryia said. "The people on that shuttle won't stand a chance against the four of us, we can put a quick end to this."

Elai stepped forward a little. "Three of us were Supercommandos during the Yuuzhan Vong war."

Korsk hissed again. "Like that means anything."

"Quite the opposite." Fend said to the surprise to his crew. "It means that even amongst the Mandalorians the three of them are not the type you want to trifle with."

Ryia crossed his large arms across his chest plate and leaned against the bulkhead next to him. "At least someone here understands who they are dealing with."

"So let us go and deal with your problem, Niya will stay here and watch the bridge." Rixa said.

Fend waited a few heartbeats and then nodded his head. Rixa in turn nodded to Ryia and Elai and the three of them headed back towards the hatch they had entered through moments earlier.

"Baydo and the others should still be in the system," Rixa said as a gentle clanging ran through the corridor as the hostile shuttle docked with the freighter. "It hasn't been long enough for them to have made it out reach of Kubindi's gravity well to make the jump to lightspeed. See if you can get a message to them and tell them things might go sideways here in a few moments."

"What do you want them to do?" Ryia asked.

"Tell them to activate the ship's stealth package and take up position behind that frigate, if they don't hear from us in fifteen minutes I want them to disable the frigate's engines and then retreat just out of that frigate's firing range."

"Do you think we're going to have to storm that frigate?" Elai asked as he slipped his helmet back on.

Rixa shrugged. "If we can't get them to leave peacefully and cut the tractor beam on their own then we're going to have to go over there and do it ourselves."

"Three Supercommandos against just under a thousand hostile spice smugglers?" Ryia sighed. "I can't say I like those odds."

The three of them came to a stop in the hold about ten meters away from the hatch. They were close enough to be seen but far enough that they could reach nearby cover quickly in the event a shootout started. Elai pulled the scattergun from his magnetic backplate and made sure to work the slide on the weapon to ready the first round. Rixa let his right hand hover over the handle of his S-5 heavy blaster and Ryia pulled his twin Merr-Sonn model 434 blasters outright from their holsters and kept the lowered at his sides.

There was an echoing thump as the hatch was activated and a hydraulic hiss as the seals were broken. The hatch was thrown open and slowly and cautiously the hostile spice smugglers began to flow into the hold. Instantly they took notice of the three Mandalorians waiting for them. There weapons lifted slightly in the direction of the unexpected threat that they now faced.

"Easy boys," Rixa said steadily. "No one wants to die here today so why don't we all just keep cool."

"Who are you to give orders to us?" a shrill voice said from the hatch as more spice runners spilled out into the hold.

Rixa knew instantly that this was going to be a difficult conversation. "It wasn't an order, but more of a suggestion really."

"You think sarcasm is going to help you anymore than barking orders?" the voice said again as a woman with platinum-blonde hair stepped into the hold as the wave of spice smugglers began to slow.

Rixa laughed. "I wasn't aware I needed any help."

The woman chuckled darkly. "Oh but you do Mandalorian."

"Doesn't feel like it."

"It'll sink in." The woman said. "You're out numbered ten to one."

"Sounds pretty even to me." Ryia said.

The woman snorted. "I didn't come here to chat with the hired help, where is Gar Fend?"

"You're going to be dealing with us this time," Ryia said. "Sorry but our shipment is off-limits to you, spacerat."

The woman's faced tightened and her eyes narrowed. "Kill them!" she screamed.

Just as every weapon in the hold was brought up into firing range a new voice rang out from the hatch.

"Toza hold your fire."

The voice was female and sounded vaguely familiar to Rixa. It didn't take long for him to recognize who it belonged to though. The woman who emerged as the last of the hostile force was about a head shorter than Rixa with long pitch-black hair with a single violet stripe running down the right side. Just beneath her left eye was a faded burn scar that was a little bigger than Rixa's thumb. The woman was Raven Varos, the Jedi that he and Tyran had rescued from the Yuuzhan Vong a decade earlier.

She wasn't wearing Jedi robes though, she was wearing black utility pants and a white tunic that was covered by a standard flight jacket. A blaster harness was tied around her waist and in it there was a particularly large blaster pistol. Gripped in her right hand though was the smooth onyx cylinder that he had seen her use to carve her way through dozens of Yuuzhan Vong warriors, her lightsaber. Behind his visor he felt his eyes lock with hers for a moment, and that moment chilled him to his core.

Rixa's comlink hissed into life. "Is that who I think it is?" Ryia asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid it is."

"Well then maybe we won't have to get into a firefight then." Elai said.

"I think we're still going to." Rixa said. "Look at her eyes, she's been using glitterstim."

"Rixa what are you doing here?" Raven snapped as she pushed her way past the blonde woman named Toza.

"I should be asking you that." Rixa said. "Of the two of us I'd have to say that a Jedi is the last person I would expect to find in a situation like this." Then he thought about it. "Well most Jedi."

"Well I'm an ex-Jedi and I've been involved in more of these deals than you have in the last decade." Raven said. "I'm not going to try and beat around the bush, will you step aside and let us take the spice shipment?"

Rixa shook his head. "I can't do that."

Raven looked down at the deck for a few moments and nodded her head. "Then I'm truly sorry."

With the iconic snap-hiss, the violet blade of her lightsaber sprang into life and the firefight began.

 

An ex-jedi using glitterstim... that is bad news. And she might be very unpredictable...

 

Ryia had been right, once again, Delia Skirata had been able to trace back the so called 'echoes' discovered by Ryia's contact on Davstaa and created an amazing web of intelligence for them to follow up on.

IT’S JUST SO INTRIGUING!

I love how much they uncover with the intel and database.


Almost every member had been involved in the horrific fighting against the Yuuzhan Vong, nothing more than children who had become men while being baptized in the fires of war.

Such a horrible (yet apt) description.


"Just like you said you'd never ask Delia Skirata for help?" Elai laughed.

"Technically I didn't, Ryia did. But that's neither here nor there." Rixa snapped.

Oh hush, you’re okay with it.

Uggh, they’re going to have to deal with the Hutts, aren’t they?


Rixa didn't get discouraged, he hadn't come as far as he had to be turned down by a common smuggler.

Not only that, but Rixa has dealt with much worse than what Fend is dealing him.


"You aren't exactly what they call...diplomatic, little brother." Ryia said. "You're a hot head and smugglers don't tend to be the most stable of people."

*snerk* Understatements. Both of them.


"Ha-ha." Elai grunted. "Yeah I know how to use a scattergun, do you know how to use a sanisteam?"

*chuckles* That’s the kind of banter that’s needed.


"They don't want trouble anymore than we do." Rixa said with a shrug. "So what could go wrong?"

Dude. Don’t you know that that is the wrong question to ask?!


"Four Mandalorians, bah how are four of them going to increase the security of our shipment?" the Trandoshan asked without looking away from Rixa.

Tsk, tsk. You know nothing of Mandalorians.

It’s very interesting that Fend is giving Rixa the info on Welk and Braren.
(I really do have a bad memory. Fend’s name sounds familiar but I can’t remember the context in which he was previously mentioned).


"As long as he keeps providing spice locations, I'm willing to do business with him."

Spoken like a true smuggler.


"You're going to stay with your crew, me and my people are going to go and meet whoever is in that shuttle." Rixa said. "We'll try to end this your way, without violence."

Strange coming from a Mando
I’m surprised Fend went for it, but I guess it’s because knows exactly who they are.


"Three Supercommandos against just under a thousand hostile spice smugglers?" Ryia sighed. "I can't say I like those odds."

Psh, I have faith in you.


The woman was Raven Varos, the Jedi that he and Tyran had rescued from the Yuuzhan Vong a decade earlier.


YAY! Well…except, not so much of a yay with the way she’s behaving.

 

I'm glad you're finding it intriguing. Which means I'm pulling off the intrigue elements, those are the hardest scenes to develop IMO.

Fend is actually making his first appearance in this chapter so I wouldn't know where you heard it before lol.

I felt that since ive been focusing on the Tyran/Hapan arc of this story that it was time for an all Rixa update. I know I said Raven wouldn't appear in this story but it is by a happy accident I was able to fit her in. I realized that I had Rixa working with a spice smuggler and remembered that Raven was going to end up as an enforcer for a spice smuggler in her post Jedi years. I thought it would be a cool way for their paths to cross but being on opposite sides of the line this time.

 

Obviously by reading your mind.

Raven's behaviour makes me so sad

 

I can't say Raven is going to improve, her appearance will be brief you'll have to wait for the sequel to see what happens to her

 

Your story telling between the Tyran/Hapan arc and Rixa updates is very well balanced.You never confuse me the way that George R. R. Martin does with a certain books series.

It is also cool that you were able to guide Raven into your story through using her difficult past.

 

The next update will be up in the next few days, but in the mean time I had an idea for a topic discussion to fill the void until the next update is finished and posted.

Alright, I posted this in the OC Revolution thread last month during a discussion as to who would play the roles of our characters if our fic was a movie. I want to see what you guys think about the actors I chose and who you would like to see playing the roles of certain characters. I only did the major characters, if you have any ideas who would be good for playing a character not on the list feel free to say so.

Tyran and Rixa Numeck: (since they're both almost identical) Russel Crowe




Dyir Carud: Edward Burns



Ryia Devieyc: Jason Statham


Dain Dolvo: Karl Urban


Kial Volar: Gerard Butler


Aru Numeck: Rhona Mitra


Jaya Numeck: Kate Beckinsale


Savah Tervho: Lena Ovchynnikova



Raven Varos: Selma Blair



Neada Tash: Amanda Righetti

 

I'm really bad with matching characters with actors. I had imagined Aru as darker and maybe more Asia though. I don't always visualize but something with the females (maybe Aru) seema a bit off to me.
But they're YOUR babies so I'll just change my view

 

SWpants I'm pretty bad at matching characters with actors too so I know what you mean it took me a few weeks of sifting through actors/actresses and of switching certain ones out for others.

Aru as Asian is interesting though, what gave you that image of her?

 

Nothing other thab I have super issues visualizing so she was an Asianic blur in my mind. *shrugs*

 

Just checking in and letting everyone know I haven't forgotten about this story, RL has gotten in the way and I also didn't like how Chapter 19 was coming out so I trashed it and started over from scratch. I'm picking away at it though so I'll have it up soon.