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

CHAPTER TWELVE:


KUAT CITY, KUAT, 40 ABY, EIGHTEEN DAYS AFTER THE BOMBING OF THE ELITE HOTEL


"Escort-One, have you met up with Spitfire yet?" Tyran radioed the ODS troop transport that was supposed to link up with Aru and escort her to the headquarters building.

"Sir, we've arrived at the school but Spitfire's vehicle isn't on the landing pad and we didn't see them on the trip over here."

"What?" Tyran said slowly.

"They aren't here sir and we can't raise Aru on the comms either." The ODS trooper said back cautiously.

Tyran looked over his shoulder at the defecting Hapan sitting in the back of their speeder, her hands bound together with stuncuffs, and felt a growing sense of dread sweep over him.

"Did you see anything suspicious during your flight?" Tyran asked.

"There was a KSF cordon around a small traffic incident, but that was it."

"What kind of incident?" It was Dyir's turn to speak up.

"An airspeeder lost power in the upper lanes and fell through down to the pedwalks."

"Standby Escort-One." Tyran said as he muted the comm channel in his HUD and turned to look at Dyir but the blue armored Mandalorian put up his right hand in a placating gesture.

"I know, I know...you want me to go to the KSF cordon."

"Right," Tyran said as he reopened the comm channel to the ODS trooper. "Escort-One hold your position for now and wait for further instructions, we're going to check out the KSF scene and we might need some back up if things get dicey."

"You expecting trouble sir?"

Tyran glanced at Talisa once more and nodded to himself. "Trouble is a sure bet when Hapans are involved."

"Wouldn't know about that sir, you always kill them all before we get there."

"It isn't our fault you guys are lazy." Dyir said. "Transmit the coordinates of the KSF cordon will you?"

"Transmitting them now sir." The trooper said with a slight chuckle.

Dyir's HUD beeped as the coordinates uploaded to his display and he banked their airspeeder into a steep dive through six speederlanes until they were in the correct level. "Four minutes out." He said to Tyran who was now sitting with his arms crossed over his chest, tapping his fingers against his biceps in anticipation.

"Anyone want to tell me what is going on?" Talisa asked as she leaned forward slightly.

"Your Hapan friends might have made a move to try and abduct Vyndra." Tyran said without looking at her. "For your own sake I'd start hoping that my wife and son and that little girl are unharmed, or things are going to go south for you in a real quickness pregnant or no."

Talisa swallowed hard, the instinct of self-preservation kicking in. "Forty-Eight Kisar Row. That was the address of the safehouse me and my team were using before I abandoned them."

"Thanks for the info." Dyir said cheerfully. "But it's not going to help you at all if Aru and the kids are hurt."

Talisa opened her mouth to protest but was instantly cut off.

"How many people were in your cell?" Tyran asked.

"Including me there were six but we had considerably more in support staff placed throughout the public works department, people who could herd you guys where we could take you down the easiest way possible."

"You got names for those people?" Tyran said silently marveling at how the prospect of imminent pain seemed to loosen the lips and jog the memory.

"Losa Faim." Talisa said instantly. "He's the only one I dealt with directly, he can tell you more though."

Tyran memorized the name. "Alright then, I'll take it easy on you if your information pans out, but either way things still go very bad for you if they go bad for my family." He fixed his unwavering gaze on Talisa and she sat back slowly into her seat. "Dyir, call Escort-One back and have them scope out that safehouse."

"Want me to get the intel guys working on this Losa Faim person?"

Tyran shook his head. "No, not until we get a full list of names out of her. That way we can round up most of them in one go. I have no illusions about getting them all at once, some of them will slip through our grasp when we start hunting them down, so I'm not about to tip my hand this earlier."

"You're the boss." Dyir said and did as he was instructed.

Tyran sighed and rubbed the heels of his palms into his eyes and then reached back and removed the stuncuffs from around Talisa's wrists.

"You're going to help us sniff out whether or not the Hapans were involved in this little traffic incident, understand?" His voice was deep and menacing. "Try to run or try anything that resembles escaping and I will shoot you dead."

Talisa nodded. "I'll cooperate and I won't try to run, after all you are going to be keeping me safe, threats of physical torture and death aside."

"At least she's got a sense of humor." Dyir said.

He slowed the airspeeder as they came to the outer edge of the Kuat Security Force cordon. Tyran told him to set the speeder down a block away from the cordon and that they would proceed on foot. Dyir did as he was instructed and soon the three of them were out on the pedwalk.

Tyran had confiscated the E-11 blaster that T'Krul had procured for Talisa and now had it magclamped to his backplate, his two DL-44s were still hanging in their hip holsters on his black hunting kama. Talisa had been given just one of the WESTAR heavy blasters that had been part of the weapons cache provided by her temporary Whiphid bodyguard. Dyir still had his Merr-Sonn Model 434 blaster on his hip but had taken the precaution of grabbing a Verpine shattergun from the storage space in the back of their airspeeder, which was a small arsenal of weapons that he Tyran had picked up a fondness for during the Yuuzhan Vong war.

Talisa had marveled at the small arsenal and had to fight the urge to ask for one of the many weapons that could only be described as exotic. She knew full well that they weren't about to give her any more firepower than she truly needed and as blaster pistols went WESTAR blasters were among the best. She found herself once again in formation between Tyran and Dyir as they made their way through the small crowd that had gathered around the KSF cordon and once again Tyran's large size and intimidating armor parted the crowd with ease. A KSF officer in a light-gray tunic turned to face her and the two Mandalorians.

"Lieutenant Foular," Tyran said. "Mind if we take a look at the incident scene?"

The older human male put his hands on his hips and gave Tyran a curious glance. "Domestic Security got some kind of interest in simple traffic accidents nowadays?"

"It isn't everyday that an airspeeder just loses power and plummets to the ground, we just need to do a quick check to make sure it wasn't someone important to KDY." Tyran said.

Foular nodded his head and looked over Tyran's shoulder at Talisa. "Who's the girl?"

"New recruit, we're out showing her the ropes." Dyir said casually.

The officer grunted. "Could do worse than learning from a couple of Mandalorians missy, you make sure to watch and listen carefully."

Talisa bristled at being called 'missy' and wanted to say that she didn't need to learn anything from Tyran and Dyir, but the subtle nudge from the muzzle of Dyir's blaster changed her mind.

"So I've been told." She said with a forced smile.

Foular sighed. "Ah what the hell, wouldn't be the first time you've poked around a KSF scene before. Just to warn you though it's a bit of a mess."

"We're Mandalorians, a little blood and a mangled body isn't going to churn our stomachs any." Dyir said as he followed Tyran and Talisa through the cordon.

How wrong he had been.

His stomach knotted up tighter than ever once he saw the interior of the wrecked speeder, the occupant of which had been reduced to what he could describe only as a 'soupy' substance by the force of the impact.

"Isn't that just lovely." He said grimly as he pulled his head away from the front viewscreen and stood back up.

The good news was that the speeder hadn't been Aru's and there wasn't any sign that the Hapans had been involved in the incident at all from what the two of them could tell. Tyran was standing next to the crumpled wreck with his arms crossed over his chest once again as he studied the scene, or that was what he appeared to be doing at least. Dyir had known him long enough to recognize the tenseness in his posture and knew instantly what he was thinking about.

If this wasn't Aru's speeder then what had happened to her and the kids?

That was the question running through his mind. At least Dyir knew that would be his primary thought had he been in Tyran's shoes, which he thankfully wasn't. He noted out of the corner of his eye that Talisa was standing by the rear of the speeder and hunched over looking at something and he found that intriguing. When he walked over to her she was running her hand around the perimeter of a perfect circle that had been burned into the rear panel of the speeder.

"Do you know what this is?" She asked him without turning her head.

"Maybe it came from impacting another speeder?" Dyir offered as he squatted down to get a better look at what she was studying.

Talisa shook her head. "No, you wouldn't get a perfect circle like that from contacting another speeder, this is scoring from a cannon."

"A cannon?" Dyir said skeptically. "If a cannon hit this kind of speeder there wouldn't have been much left to fall to the ground like it did. It would have been blown to bits."

"But it wasn't blown to bits." Talisa said. "It lost power."

Dyir gave her a slight smile. "Which suggests-"

"An ion cannon." Tyran said from behind both of them. "This speeder was hit by an ion cannon, lost power and plummeted to the ground."

"Why would someone be shooting an ion cannon into crowded speederlanes though?" Dyir asked. "I mean if Aru was the target, then her speeder would be here along with our soupy friend in the speeder."

"But she isn't." Talisa said as she rose to her feet and began pacing back in forth in a line no more than a meter in length. "Even Aenica knows that killing Vyndra won't draw Neada Tash out into the open, they need Vyndra alive. Hence the ion cannon instead of regular cannon, but once they shot your wife's speeder, if that is indeed what happened to them, with the ion cannon they would need a way to catch the speeder as it fell through the skylanes to prevent what happened to this guy here." Talisa said pointing at the wrecked speeder.

"Tow cable?" Dyir offered.

Tyran shook his head. "Aru's speeder is so armored up that it would break the line no matter what gauge the cable was. It had to be some kind of grav generator."

"Tractor beam?" Talisa said.

"On an airspeeder?" Dyir said skeptically.

"It wouldn't have to be one as strong as the type used on star cruisers." Tyran said. "The type used by construction droids would certainly be able to do the job for an hour or two until the powercell fails. There are quite a few construction sites downtown where you could certainly pick one up."

"Stealing one wouldn't be that difficult or they could have bribed one of the contractors to just turn his head while they came in and took what they wanted." Talisa said. "Our team has a near bottomless pit of financial assets to draw upon if we need to."

Tyran began to nod his head and looked at Dyir. "Get the intel guys to pull up every camera angle they can get of this street, I mean every single level and lane. I think we may have just figured out what happened here, but I'd still like visual proof as to what happened here to back my hunch up."

Suddenly a sharp piercing wail sliced through the audio feed in Tyran's HUD with such ferocity that it made him wince. At the same time a cold clenching fear grabbed hold of his stomach and refused to let go. He whipped his head around to Dyir who gave him a subtle nod in return. He was getting the signal to, the stranglehold the fear had on his stomach tightened further. The wailing sound was Aru's emergency tracking beacon. Together both of them raced off towards their speeder again, forgetting all about Talisa in the process. By the time she caught up to them Dyir had already started up the speeder and Tyran was checking the charge on the powerpack in the E-11 rifle as she climbed into the backseat.

"What's going on?" She asked.

Neither man answered her and she was thrown back in her seat by the sudden acceleration as Dyir lifted them back up into the congested speederlanes.


SOMEWHERE IN THE OFF-WOLDER SECTOR, KUAT CITY, KUAT, 40 ABY, EIGHTEEN DAYS AFTER THE BOMBING OF THE ELITE HOTEL


Aru kept glancing up at the speeder hovering over them as it kept her own speeder suspended via tractor beam. She stared at the underside of the ancient looking speeder that had managed to snag her and the two children in her care for a few seconds and then glance down at the pedwalks below them. The buildings were starting to become increasingly unattractive and more derelict as they went and the foot traffic was beginning to thin out to the point of being almost non-existant. The beginnings of a plan were starting to form in her head as she judged the distance from her speeder to the ground to be no more than thirty meters meters.

It wasn't a long drop but the landing wouldn't be any more pleasant because of the short drop time. The large mass of the speeder alone would cause it to plummet at a faster rate, and when almost four hundred kilos of durasteel hit solid and stationary permacrete at speed the reaction would always be uncomfortable for the occupants of the speeder. She hoped that the reinforced hull of the speeder would hold up against the force of the impact. She looked over at Vyndra and Ijaat and sighed heavily.

"Alright, I've got a plan that's going to get us on the ground but it won't be very fun." She said honestly. "Make sure that your restraints are on nice and tight and close your eyes, permaglass might start flying around in a few seconds."

The two children traded uneasy glances but did as they were told and once they had finished checking their restraints and shut their eyes nice and tight Aru pulled her blaster from it's holster, aimed it at the viewport behind her and fired three times. The first two bolts merely burned and melted a small hole in the reinforced permaglass but the third shot created a gap about as big around as her fist. A high-pitched whistle tore through the rear compartment of the airspeeder as the wind outside was forced through the small gap in the window.

Aru began bashing the grip of her pistol against the melted out hole in the center of the permaglass, smashing away larger and larger chunks of the weakened material. After a minute of chipping away at the window she had a gap large enough to fit her arm and a decent portion of her upper body through. Wind whipped harshly at her as she took in a deep breath and positioned herself through the gap she had created and aimed her blaster at the tubular tractor beam under the hostile speeder. In one fluid motion she hit the rate-of-fire selector on the side of her blaster, pushing the weapon into its full-auto setting, and depressed the trigger.

A steady stream of crimson bolts flew up at the underside of the enemy speeder, most of them impacting the underside and only a few hitting their mark on the tractor beam itself. Still the tractor beam sparked once, twice and then failed as enough of her shots hit it to disable the device.

There was a moment where her speeder just hung there stationary in the air and then began to fall. Aru had barely pulled herself back into the speeder when it hit the ground knocking her to the floor. The sound of screeching durasteel and breaking permaglass erupted all around her, mixing with the fearful screams from Ijaat and Vyndra. No longer strapped into her restraints Aru was tossed around the interior of the speeder freely, bouncing off every surface. The speeder gave a violent lurch as it impacted something solid and was knocked onto its side and into a roll.

More screams and sounds of breaking glass followed and there was one more hard impact that brought the speeder to a painful and sudden stop. Aru was slammed headfirst against a section of permaglass window that hadn't been broken in the crash. She hit it hard enough to crack the panel and felt something warm and sticky run down from a freshly opened wound somewhere on her forehead. That wasn't her only injury though, she reached over to her right shoulder and probed it with her left hand. The joint had been popped out of its socket and burned with a fiery pain each time her fingers touched it.

She cursed the wound and crawled across what had been the roof of the now upside down speeder to get to Ijaat and Vyndra who where still hanging upside down in their restraints. Vyndra had a small cut of her own on her cheek that was bleeding freely and Ijaat had a nasty bruise forming over his left eye. Both of them were out cold.

She patted her son on his cheek gently. "Ijaat, come I need you to wake up. We need to get out of here." She said softly but urgently.

Ijaat began to stir and Aru hit the release on his restraints with her good hand and he tumbled unceremoniously to the floor. Vyndra was harder to wake up and Aru had had to resort to giving the child a firm smack to help her gain consciousness again.

"Where are we?" Vyndra asked shakily after she too fell from her restraints without a dignified landing.

Aru glanced around the wrecked interior of the speeder for her blaster and found it wedged between two seats that had become dislodged in the crash.

"The Off-Worlder sector I think." Aru said as she crabbed walked to one of the doors and forcefully kicked it open. "You two do exactly what I say when I say it, we need to find a place to hide until help comes."

"Dad is coming right?" Ijaat said shakily.

"I don't know, these people were blocking my commlink and I don't know if they were able to block the emergency beacon." She looked at the two frightened children and tried to give them a reassuring look. "I'm going to go out first and make sure everything is clear, when I tell you two to come out I want you to make a mad dash for those buildings over there."

She pointed at a set of old abandoned KDY factory buildings, the highly faded and worn Kuat family crest visible on their duracrete exteriors.

"You aren't coming with us?" Vyndra said.

"I'll be right behind you I just need to make sure no one follows us." Aru said shortly.

That was a tall order with just one good arm and a single blaster pistol though. She slipped out through the door she had kicked open and pulled herself shakily to her feet. She could hear the sounds of repulsorlifts touching down as the speeders that had been involved in the ambush set down to try and capture Vyndra again. The sound was echoing off of the duracrete walls around her making it seem like it was coming from every direction and therefore impossible to tell where the threat was really coming from. She only had a few minutes to get Vyndra out of the open and somewhere secluded where she could then try to contact Tyran.

"Ok, move quickly." Aru hissed as she kept her head on a swivel tying to keep the many entrances to the small square where her speeder had crashed in her field of view.

Vyndra was out of the speeder first and turned around to pull Ijaat through and every facet of Aru's training yelled at her to tell the child to forget about Ijaat and run. Aru very may well have said that if it hadn't been her son that Vyndra was helping, but nonetheless the Hapans weren't after Ijaat. It took Vyndra a few seconds to help Ijaat through the mangled door and in the next moment they both took off in the direction of the abandoned factories. Aru was on their heels as they dashed through the empty duracrete streets. Less than six meters from the entrance to one of the factories Ijaat lost his footing as he stumbled over a loose piece of duracrete and fell face first to the ground. Vyndra came to a halt and began to backtrack to help her friend up but Aru waved her on.

"I'll take care of him, you keep moving!" She said more harshly than she had meant to, but now was not the time to be backpedaling and Vyndra was going to have to start doing as she was told.

Vyndra hesitated for a single moment and in that moment any chance of escaping unnoticed was gone. Blaster fire began ringing out from the alleyway just ahead of and slightly off to the left of Vyndra. The girl shrieked out in fear and dropped to the ground to avoid being hit.

"Vyndra no!" Aru yelled as adrenaline took over and she hauled her son to his feet with her dislocated arm and returned fire. "Don't stop, get up and keep moving to cover!"

Ijaat got the message loud and clear and sprinted off in the direction of the relative safety provided by the abandoned KDY complex. He grabbed Vyndra by the wrist as he went and basically dragged her along the duracrete for a few meters before she could get her feet under her and propel herself along. Aru focused on the threats emerging from out of the alley and provided a constant shield of cover fire for the two kids as they ran along the open duracrete plain. She made out what appeared to be a group of Nikto hiding behind a large trash dumpster with laughably outdated blaster pistols. Two of them were moving in a crouched manner and spraying off blindfire shots in her general direction.

The sight of Nikto confused her for a moment. Were the Hapans no longer doing their own dirty work?

Moving along the same path Ijaat and Vyndra had taken, Aru kept her upper body turned towards the group of Nikto waiting for one of them to make the mistake of exposing himself to her line-of-sight. There! A Nikto popped his head up over the edge of the dumpster to get a better idea of where she was, but in the single instant the crown of his head was available to her she squeezed off one blaster from her S5 blaster and only saw the Nikto's body jerk upwards and his head snap back. Almost instantaneously his buddies decided to go for broke and jumped out from cover behind the dumpster and pointed two repeating blasters in her direction and depressed their triggers.

A solid stream of plasma rounds came bouncing in at her from both the left and right flank as both Nikto began to savagely swipe their blasters from side to side putting Aru on the defensive. She dropped down under their arc of fire, landed on her injured shoulder, and rolled to her right towards the KDY complex. She could no longer see Vyndra and Ijaat and could only hope that they had made it inside. Aru realized with a small sigh of relief that when she had landed on her bad shoulder she had managed to pop it back into place and only had a small gnawing ache to deal with instead of a useless arm.

The two Nikto thugs weren't letting up with their steady stream of fire, but the whine of their rifles was getting significantly higher. It wouldn't be long before they had to switch out the powerpacks in their weapons for new ones. All Aru had to do was keep dodging their mindless offensive until that happened and then she could capitalize on their idiotic firing discipline. She jumped inside a small security post and dropped down under a rusted out durasteel desk. Plasma rounds broke through what remained of the permaglass windows and burned it's way through the permacrete structure in places where it had become weakened with age.

One of the Nikto thugs swore as his repeater sputtered and died and soon the second one was doing much the same. Aru took in a quick breath of air and popped out from her cover and lined up the sights of her blaster on the nearest of the two targets. She didn't fire immediately because she was caught off guard by how the two Nikto were practically slamming their fists against the discharge levers on their guns. She smiled as she realized that the heat projected by the weapon had fused the discharge cover to the casing.

They couldn't reload!

The nearest Nikto looked up and a look of grim realization came over his ugly face as his eyes came to rest of Aru. She grinned at him and neatly shot him in the head and turned her blaster on the second Nikto and executed him just as he had begun to drop his repeating blaster for what she assumed to be a hold out blaster in his shabby jacket.

Something wasn't sitting right with her as she took in the two dead bodies before her. The other dead Nikto behind the dumpster made three targets but there had been four speeders navigating through the speederlanes while hers had been falling.

There had to be more targets out there somewhere. She glanced around the permacrete plain once more and then hurried back towards the complex entrance to start searching for Vyndra and Ijaat. The interior of the KDY complex was just as run down as the exterior was. It smelled of mold and she could hear water dripping from unmaintained pipping not too far away. Aru didn't dare yell out for the two kids because she didn't know who else was in this building with them. She couldn't see anything through the darkness as the only light source was what managed to filter in through the cracked ceiling tiles.

Her feet made a splashing sound as she stepped into a shallow pool of water and she stopped dead in her tracks, an idea forming in her head. She didn't want to turn on the small emergency glowrod she had tucked away in her boot, lest she give away her position, but it was the only way she would be able to see any footprints left behind by the wet shoes her two charges were wearing. The puddle may have been shallow but it spanned most of the entry way and there was no way Ijaat and Vyndra would have been able to step over it, especially at the speed they had been moving at. She turned in a slow circle casting the light from the glowrod around the floor and about a quarter of the way through her turn she saw it. The small trail of footprints leading into the darkness side by side, too small to be anything but the footprints of the two kids she was looking for.

Aru walked off in the direction of the footsteps keeping her head down slightly so she could keep them in her field of view as she moved. A large hand came out of the shadows next to her and spun her around. She was face to face with a shaggy bearded and burly human. The suddenness of it shocked Aru into inaction. She never saw the man's other hand thrust forward and only realized what had happened after a fierce pain worked its way up her abdomen and into her chest. Their eyes met for a single moment and then Aru staggered backwards a few paces before collapsing against the wall behind her, her eyes fixed on the hilt of the knife jutting out from her stomach.

The man picked up her glowrod and turned into the darkness to continue following the trail. "Here kiddies, come give Uncle Bruenor a hug."

 

"They aren't here sir and we can't raise Aru on the comms either." The ODS trooper said back cautiously.

Sometimes, bluntness is needed for the actual truth to be heard.


Tyran glanced at Talisa once more and nodded to himself. "Trouble is a sure bet when Hapans are involved."




I’m not surprised Talisa only knows one name. Knowing less makes ops work better.


Talisa nodded. "I'll cooperate and I won't try to run, after all you are going to be keeping me safe, threats of physical torture and death aside."

"At least she's got a sense of humor." Dyir said.

*snerk * she does, but I still don’t like her.
I’m not saying I won’t ever; it just will take a while. It hasn’t been long enough in-fic.


"It isn't everyday that an airspeeder just loses power and plummets to the ground

For real. Though…actually, I can see it happening often enough that it isn’t an anomaly. But being ON Kuat would mean less accidents of that nature than there would be on Coruscant or something.


Talisa shook her head. "No, you wouldn't get a perfect circle like that from contacting another speeder, this is scoring from a cannon."

Ah, so Talisa’s expertise are needed.


"Tractor beam?" Talisa said.

"On an airspeeder?" Dyir said skeptically.

Guys, I was as confused about this in the last chapter as you are now.





SOMEWHERE IN THE OFF-WOLDER SECTOR

*laughs* I usually don’t read these things but that caught my eye. Very specific
Very Aru’s mind right now.


"Alright, I've got a plan that's going to get us on the ground but it won't be very fun." She said honestly. "Make sure that your restraints are on nice and tight and close your eyes, permaglass might start flying around in a few seconds."

I’m glad they didn’t argue and accepted the fact poodoo may start hitting the repulsors.
Go Aru!!


Vyndra had a small cut of her own on her cheek that was bleeding freely and Ijaat had a nasty bruise forming over his left eye. Both of them were out cold.

Ouch


"Dad is coming right?" Ijaat said shakily.

That’s all you can hope for, kid.


every facet of Aru's training yelled at her to tell the child to forget about Ijaat and run. Aru very may well have said that if it hadn't been her son that Vyndra was helping

But….he’s still a kid. Whether the Hapans are after him or not, they’d still use him as collateral.


Where the Hapans no longer doing there own dirty work?

I was terribly confused by that sentence for a moment.
“Were”… “their”

Or are the Nikto on another mission entirely? *waggles an eyebrow*


Aru realized with a small sigh of relief that when she had landed on her bad shoulder she had managed to pop it back into place and only had a small gnawing ache to deal with instead of a useless arm.

GAAAAHH. Dislocated shoulders are nasty. That’s good for her.

They couldn't reload!

Ha-ha!


She grinned at him and neatly shot him in the head and turned her blaster on the second Nikto

That in turn made me grin


only realized what had happened after a fierce pain worked its way up her abdomen and into her chest.

But… NOOOOOOO

 

SWpants. didn't expect that?

 

NO!
And the thing is, I know she can die. That's a definite possibility.
I don't think she will but that doesn't mean she won't.

 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN


ABANDONED KDY COMPLEX, OFF-WORLDER SECTOR, KUAT CITY, KUAT, 40 ABY, EIGHTEEN DAYS AFTER THE BOMBING OF THE ELITE HOTEL

Frozen with fear, Ijaat watched the large human step away from his mother. Horrified he could do nothing but stare as she clutched at the handle of something protruding from her abdomen and slowly slumped backwards against the wall and then fell down to the floor. The large human turned in their direction and said something but Ijaat couldn't hear it over the sudden sound of blood pumping in his ears. He and Vyndra were hiding in a small air duct that was hopefully out of reach of the large human that was obviously trying to take them.

Ijaat was confident that their hiding spot was hard to see in the darkness, it had been by shear luck that he and Vyndra had found it to begin with. The durasteel duct was rusted out from years of neglect and he was sure that there were rodents of some kind using it as their own little travel route through the sprawling KDY complex but right now it was the only hope of safety that they had. Vyndra, for all of the self defense training she had been given, was paralyzed with terror just behind him. Up until now the prospect of being targeted by Hapan assassins had been just plain theoretical possibility.

Ijaat suspected that Vyndra had just realized the kind of fear that her mother must have dealt with daily,

"We have to move further down the conduit." Ijaat whispered softly as he slowly and reluctantly backed away from the crud covered grate. "The deeper in we go the harder it will be for him to get us."

"What about your mom?" Vyndra whispered back with a noticeable tremor in her voice. "We can't just leave her."

"We can't help her." Ijaat said sadly. "We just need to stay in this air duct, that guy won't be able to fit through the grate."

Vyndra gave a glance at the grate behind him and gave a tentative nod and began to crawl further into the darkness of the air duct. The large human man's voice echoed up from the ground, amplified by the empty surroundings of the KDY complex and giving it a ghostly echo that made her cringe.

"You can't hide you little swamprats," the man hissed into the darkness. "Uncle Bruenor is going to find you and when I do I'm going to have to punish you for making me work so hard for the money I'm being paid."

Vyndra kept crawling forward and cringed every time her hand grazed over an oily buildup of mold in the corners of the duct. She shuddered as she thought about what that man meant by punishing her and Ijaat. Surely it wouldn't be worse than what the Hapans had in mind for her and Vyndra was in no rush to be punished or executed. At that moment she felt more scared and alone than she had ever felt before and she just wanted to curl up in a ball somewhere in a dark corner of the duct and cry until someone came and found her. She knew she couldn't do that though, she had to keep moving and she had to stay quiet. It wasn't just her life on the line now but Ijaat's as well. She would never be able to forgive herself if something happened to him because of her. She came to a sudden halt and Ijaat bumped into her.

"Why did you stop?" He asked.

"Which way do we go?" She said. The duct had come to an end and now split off into two different directions.

"I don't think it matters." Ijaat said after thinking it over quickly. "As long as it keeps us moving away from that guy."

Vyndra nodded again and began crawling down the right side of the duct. The durasteel beneath her was becoming damper and damper as she went.

"Where do you think all this water is coming from?" She asked as she tried to keep the direness of their situation from paralyzing her.

"It's pretty humid here." Ijaat whispered. "It could be condensation, it would explain all the mold as well."

"We're going to get out of here right?" She said coming to a stop and looking over her shoulder at him.

Ijaat looked at her for a few seconds. "Yeah, we'll get out of here. My dad and Dyir will show up soon and take care of that guy down there and then we can get my mom to a medcenter."

"Your mom is tough," Vyndra said softly. "She's going to be just fine."

She could barely make out Ijaat's face in the darkness of the conduit but it was visible enough for her to see the grimfully doubtful look that spared across his face.

"I know she will."

"Are you scared Ijaat?"

"No I'm not scared."

"Why not?"

"Because Mandalorians don't get scared." Ijaat said instantly.

He and Vyndra locked gazes for a few seconds. "Good, because I'm plenty scared for the both of us."

Ijaat smiled at her but only briefly.

The air duct panel they were both kneeling on groaned as rusted out fittings gave way to their combined weight. Vyndra looked up at him in an a single instant saw the moment of panic flash in his eyes. The panel groaned again and this time gave to the mass of the two children and suddenly Vyndra and Ijaat found themselves free falling to the duracrete eight meters below.

**************

Aru could taste the blood as it worked its way up the back of her throat. Pain radiated up from the knife hilt in her abdomen in sharp circles. She couldn't move from the spot where she had fallen either, some exploration of her wound revealed exactly what kind of knife she had been stabbed with: A Kamori hunting blade. She wasn't overly familiar with the weapon but she knew enough about it to know that it was serrated and if she moved at all she would risk causing even more severe internal injuries to the ones she already had. No she had to stay put and leave the knife inside her where it was.

And that was the good news.

Aru knew for certain that she was bleeding out and had managed to calculate a rough approximation of how much blood she was losing. If she was able to control her heart rate and stay calm she would have forty-minutes, maybe fifty, before she succumbed to blood loss. But with her son and the girl she was supposed to be protecting being all alone in a dark, abandoned building with some burly human trying to hunt them down, being calm and tranquil was almost virtually impossible. She fully suspected she had maybe ten or fifteen minutes left in all reality before she would bleed out.

She could hear the large man calling out to the two children, hissing menacing threats and promises of punishment as he went. He might as well have just stood over her and twisted the knife in her stomach. Aru couldn't believe she had failed as spectacularly as she had. The first time she had ever had to defend Vyndra from an abduction and here she was lying on the floor bleeding with a knife in her stomach. Maybe that was what you got when you asked a starpilot to become a bodyguard. As good as her fighting abilities were there was no one better than her behind the controls of a starfighter.

This was Tyran's fault. She had argued strongly against coming to Kuat in the first place, that she had no business being a bodyguard and that she didn't want to leave Mandalore. It was Tyran's fault she was lying on the ground dying. It was his fault-

Aru closed her eyes and squashed that train of thought. It wasn't Tyran's fault that she had been stabbed. It was her's and her's alone. She hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings and had stopped searching for threats despite the sounds of more hostile speeders landing around her, hidden amongst the various building that made up the complex. She felt ashamed for the angry, despairing thoughts that had forced themselves to the front of her mind.

She couldn't hold it in anymore and began to sob heavily as fearful tears rolled down her cheeks. If Tyran had gotten the signal from her emergency beacon he would have been here by now. He wasn't coming, he didn't know where they were and Vyndra was going to be captured and sent to the Hapans and she didn't even want to think about what was going to happen to Ijaat. He wasn't important to the Hapan cause anymore than Aru was. The only reward that would come from all of this was that whoever was responsible for killing her and Ijaat wouldn't live much longer afterward. Not with her husband's family history of quests for revenge.

She coughed and the contractions of her lungs sent fiery stabs of pain through her torso. The taste of blood was even stronger and she could feel it rolling down the side of her chin. She couldn't even lift her arm to wipe it away because she was in so much pain and so tired. The urge to just lay down and submit was growing stronger and she had to work that much harder to keep from doing it. She wasn't going to give up that easily, she wasn't just going to roll over and die.

An ear splitting shriek of breaking durasteel came from somewhere down in the darkness of the complex followed the shrilling scream that could only have been emitted by a terrified little girl.

"Vyndra!" Aru yelled into the darkness.

In return all she heard was the booming laughter of the large man who had stabbed her.

"Now I've got you little runts." She heard him say.

It was over. The Hapans had won this time and whatever they had in mind for Vyndra would be ten times as worse as for whatever they had in mind for the small girl's mother. They were going to torture the poor girl to torture the mother most likely and the sense of failure that Aru had felt before grew to massive proportions. She began sobbing again as she heard Vyndra yelling and putting up a failing struggle against the man who had her.

Heavy footsteps soon echoed off the walls around her. But they weren't coming from the direction that the large man had gone. It was coming from the hallway that Aru had walked through just before getting stabbed. The man had probably signaled for one of the other speeders to come and pick him and Vyndra up so he could take her to the Hapans. She could make out a lone figure moving through the dark shadows and tried to remain silent. Surely if it was one of the Nikto thugs that were working for the large human they would have no problem putting her out of her misery.

An involuntary cough slipped out from between her lips and the figure stopped and turned in her direction. Suddenly the room and the immediate surrounding were illuminated in the bright rays of a helmet spotlamp. Her eyes took a moment to adjust and just beyond the bright rays Aru made out the familiar shape of the helmet. There was no mistaking the distinctive T-shaped visor. She smiled and pointed into the dark.

**************

Bruenor gripped the small girl by the back of her neck and held her tight as she tried to kick, hit and bite him in order to loosen his grip. The boy was out cold and Bruenor was simply dragging him along by the ankle. Maybe there was a price the Hapans would be willing to pay for him as well.

"Let go of me!" Vyndra yelled as she tried to turn around and kick him again. Bruenor just pushed her further out away from him and squeezed his hand around her neck even harder. Vyndra cried out against the pain.

"You shut your spoiled little mouth, you little brat." Bruenor said. "I don't know why the Hapans are willing to pay so much for a girl like you but I'm not about to ask questions that I know I'm not going to get the answers to."

"Please let us go." Vyndra whimpered trying a different approach this time. After all she was a ten year old girl, who could say no to a sad little girl?

"I said shut up and keep moving." Bruenor said.

Vyndra scowled and resumed trying to kick and bite him. Bruenor growled and gave her a hard smack that dropped her to her knees. He reached down and pulled the sobbing girl up by the back of her shirt and shoved her further down the dark passage way.

"You're just lucky you didn't wind up like that bogwitch of a bodyguard you had. She should be just up around the corner, I'd be surprised if she's still breathing."

Bruenor turned the corner to where he had left the Mandalorian woman and stopped in his tracks. Where there should have been a bleeding bodyguard there was simply a large pool of blood. He didn't see any drag marks on the floor to suggest that she had crawled away somewhere. Even if she had crawled she would have only done more damage to herself with a Kamori blade in her gut.

"Huh, must of went and found a hole to crawl in and die." He said as he shoved Vyndra out of the complex entrance and tossed Ijaat's unconscious body onto the duracrete outside.

"Ikabi, get the speeder ready for liftoff, I've got to call that Hapan lady to tell her we've got the prize." Bruenor said without looking up from his datapad.

He didn't get a response from his Nikto subordinate.

"Ikabi?" He said as he looked up.

He dropped his datapad as he took in the sight before him. The three speeders that he had left were all parked where he had last seen them. The only difference was that every member of his crew were lying dead either in their speeders still or on the ground near the speeders. On the ground next to his own personal speeder was the girl's bodyguard, the knife still protruding from her stomach. There was no way that she had managed to kill all of his men, not with all the blood she had lost. He pulled out his blaster and aimed it at her head as he approached her.

"I guess I should thank you for killing my crew, they were more or less useless. Good cannon fodder though." Bruenor said. "Don't worry, with the money I'm being paid for delivering that girl I'll be able to purchase a much more dependable crew."

Aru looked up at him. Her face was pale and covered in a noticeable sheen of sweat. "You shouldn't be thanking me, you should be thanking him."

The unmistakable sound of someone working the action on a slugthrower came from just over his shoulder. Bruenor turned around to look directly down the barrel of an old pump-action projectile weapon. Just beyond the weapon though was a large Mandalorian in dark gray armor.

"Did you ever pick the wrong day to mess with that little girl." The Mandalorian said just before pulling the trigger.

Aru watched as the large human fell to the ground with some of his head still intact as the Mandalorian placed the slugthrower across his backplate. She watched the Mandalorian walk over to Vyndra and Ijaat. He only traded a few words with Vyndra before checking over Ijaat and pulling something from one of his belt pouches and then waving it in front of the knocked out child. Almost instantly Ijaat sat up and began crawling away from the stinksalts in the Mandalorian's hand.

Ijaat looked at him curiously. "Dad?"

The Mandalorian grunted in amusement and pulled of his helmet. "Do I honestly look that ugly?"

No the man wasn't his father, that much was plain to see, so Ijaat asked the next obvious question.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Dain." the Mandalorian said. "Are you alright?"

Ijaat nodded his head. "Yeah I'm fine, but my mom needs help. She's still inside."

Dain shook his head and pointed over his shoulder. "She's over there, I need the two of you to get in that red speeder over there and stay put. I'm going to help your mom."

He stood up an walked over to Aru while Ijaat and Vyndra reluctantly did as they were told. Aru looked up at him and let out a grim laugh.

"How'd you find us?" She asked weakly.

"Pure happenstance," Dain replied as he kneeled down next to her. "I saw the wrecked speeder and all those Nikto standing around and got one of those feelings. So I decided to drop in and see what was going on."

"Of all the people it had to be you, Dain Dolvo. I bet Tyran is going to be thrilled by that."

"Well he's watching over the woman carrying my child, I guess saving his wife and son is a good way to return the favor."

Aru shook her head. "I'm beyond saving Dain."

"That's where you're wrong Ar'ika." He said as he pulled his own knife out and began to cut away at the lower-half of her shirt.

"What are you doing?" She said.

"Seeing just how bad your wound is."

"It is a Kamori blade, you won't be able to remove it here and the nearest medcenter is twenty minutes away and I barely have ten minutes."

"Then you need to shut up and let me work." Dain said bluntly. "You forget that I was a medic on the frontlines of the Yuuzhan Vong war and I saved quite a few Imperials and Mandos who were worse off than you."

Aru shut her eyes and nodded her head. He really was her only chance at survival and he had the skills to back up his boasting. He finished cutting away the bottom section of her shirt and removed his gauntlets.

"Just relax and slow your breathing, you need to keep your heart rate down." He said in a calm voice.

Aru nodded but couldn't keep the tears from falling down her face. "I'm scared Dain."

Dain grabbed her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry, nothing is going to happen to you." He gently probed the area around the knife blade with his other hand and let out a long sigh. "Okay good news or bad news first?"

"Good."

"I can remove the blade, it is a Kamori but it's not a traditional Kamori blade. Only the first inch is serrated on this particular style Kamori, I'll have to do it slow though and that is going to hurt...a lot."

"What's the bad news?" Aru asked.

"Well I have to seal the wound and I don't have anyway to do that other than..." he trailed off.

"Other than what?"

"Heat." He said simply.

Aru blinked away the tears that formed in the corner of her eyes.

"Is that the only option."

Dain nodded. "Right now, yes it is."

Aru nodded her head slowly. Dain gave her a sympathetic look as he gripped her hand tighter and gently wrapped his fingers around the knife hilt and began to pull.

 

What is Dain up to?

 

If I told you it would spoil the fun

 

Ijaat suspected that Vyndra had just realized the kind of fear that her mother must have dealt with daily

I’m just glad they’re both quite aware of the danger they face.


"We can't help her." Ijaat said sadly. "We just need to stay in this air duct, that guy won't be able to fit through the grate."

Poor kid


"It's pretty humid here." Ijaat whispered. "It could be condensation, it would explain all the mold as well."

Wel…I might vomit…


"Because Mandalorians don't get scared." Ijaat said instantly.

He and Vyndra locked gazes for a few seconds. "Good, because I'm plenty scared for the both of us."

*rolls eyes at Ijaat*
*agrees with Vyndra*
I mean, I’m not terrified for them, but if I was in her place, I would feel te same as her.


Aru could taste the blood as it worked its way up the back of her throat

Bleeeeeeehhhhhh


The first time she had ever had to defend Vyndra from an abduction and here she was lying on the floor bleeding with a knife in her stomach.

Well 1. That was her job, but 2. She DID defend both the kids to the best of her abilities.


This was Tyran's fault. She had argued strongly against coming to Kuat in the first place

Oh jeez. I’m glad she ealized she was acting the crazy. She’s allowed to be angry though. And hello! Blood loss!


They were going to torture the poor girl to torture the mother most likely

The thing is I can’t really see the Hapans doing that. ESPECIALLY not to a child. It’s such a horrible thought.


Bruenor just pushed her further out away from him and squeezed his hand around her neck even harder.

OK well individuals, I can see it. I hate it but I can see it more than as an entire group.

Go Vyndra though! I love how she defends herself!


every member of his crew were lying dead either in their speeders still or on the ground near the speeders.

Haha good. He’s in for a very big surprise.


Ijaat looked at him curiously. "Dad?"

The Mandalorian grunted in amusement and pulled of his helmet. "Do I honestly look that ugly?"

*cackles insanely*
Glad Dain is making himself useful.


"You forget that I was a medic on the frontlines of the Yuuzhan Vong war and I saved quite a few Imperials and Mandos who were worse off than you."

He’ll save her. You’ll save her.


Aru nodded her head slowly. Dain gave her a sympathetic look as he gripped her hand tighter and gently wrapped his fingers around the knife hilt and began to pull.

*whimpers*

This is why I’m a teacher. Less danger.

 

SWpants

I agree most Hapans wouldn't torture a small girl to get to the mother, but the Battle Mistress is threatened by Neada and in order to keep her position of power and wealth has authorized operatives under her command to do whatever it takes to eliminate Tash. Plus remember Talisa's team is under pain of death should they fail to complete the job. that would make most people go to extremes they normally wouldn't to get the job done. And now that Aenica is in command there are no limits to what the Hapans will do.

For future reference I'm just going to say that this mission isn't something Tenal Ka is aware of and that its more or less a vendetta between rival Hapans Thel Sahn and Neada Tash.

 

I had a feeling TK didn't know :/

 

A/N: Sorry this one took a little longer but I've been caught up in Madden 15, you know how a good Mando can't say no to some Meshgeroya


CHAPTER FOURTEEN

KUAT CITY, KUAT, 40 ABY, EIGHTEEN DAYS AFTER THE BOMBING OF THE ELITE HOTEL

Dyir put the speeder into a deep dive, dropping down ten speederlanes at dangerously high speeds as they closed in on Aru's emergency beacon.

"Two clicks out." He said simply.

He was well aware of the fact that Tyran didn't need to know how far away they were from the beacon, he had a tracker up on his HUD just like Dyir did. Relaying the information was just displacement on his part. Aru was like a sister to him and he was just as worried about her and the kids as Tyran was. He must have committed every traffic infraction in the book to get them as as close as the y were. Talisa hadn't taken very kindly to the rough ride that they were giving her and she cried out and yelped every time Dyir had a close call with another speeder.

"Have a little faith lady." He said sourly as he avoided yet another potentially lethal crash. "I'm a highly trained evasive driver."

"I'm not sure this qualifies as evasive driving!" Talisa shouted at him as she pulled herself back into a sitting position.

"Take this and shut up." Tyran said bluntly as he handed her back her other WESTAR blaster. "My wife's emergency beacon has been activated and we're headed there to retrieve her and the kids, and you're going to help us. Understand?"

Talisa took the blaster and nodded as she holstered it. "Should I be worried about my own well being?" She asked.

"Depends on what we find when we get there." Tyran said ominously.

She sank bank into her seat suddenly not caring how fast Dyir was going or how sharp he made his turns. She looked at the blaster in her hand and contemplated shooting the both of them once they landed. She quickly banished the thought. The two of them were Mandalorians and the armor they were both wearing had legendary endurance. She had heard more than one rumor that some Mandalorians wore suits of armor that had been passed down for generations and was still as strong as it was on the day it had been forged.

She could only hope that they got to the location of the emergency beacon before anything bad happened to Tyran's wife and the two children she had been transporting. She didn't like contemplating what the outcome would be if for her if they were too late. But whether she liked it or not the two Mandalorians were her best defense against her old Hapan cell until Dain showed up. Once Dain was with her she knew he would keep Tyran and Dyir from hurting her in order to get the information they wanted on the whole Hapan network on Kuat.

Or she hoped that he would.

It dawned on her just then that she didn't really know how effective Dain was on the battle field, she just envisioned the regular stereotype applied to Mandalorians. In the last few hours though she had learned that there were very different types of Mandalorians, some more capable, reliable, courageous, ruthless and cunning than others, and she had no idea where Dain fell on that scale.

So far he had proven himself to be very resourceful, in just a few short hours he had managed to set her up with a temporary safehouse and personal guard and then arrange a security team consisting of two more Mandalorians, and he had done it from the Outer-Rim several hundreds of thousands of light years away from her. Talisa had her fingers crossed that Dain's brawn matched his brain because Tyran's sure did. You didn't defeat over two-dozen Hapan assassin squads just by shear strength alone.

Whether by coincidence or by the will of some all-knowing entity Talisa looked out her window and saw what appeared to be some sort of light show on the ground. It took her a moment to realize what she was seeing. It wasn't a light show, it was a firefight. She couldn't make out who exactly was fighting who but it was clear that someone was really taking a beating down there. She looked up from the window to report what she had discovered but naturally Dyir was one step ahead of her and already diving down towards the battleground below.

"Tyran to Escort-One," Tyran said aloud. "We've homed in on Aru's emergency beacon. Get to our position ASAP, there must be two or maybe even three dozen hostiles engaging friendlies down there."

Talisa didn't hear the response from the man Tyran had been talking to. She couldn't hear the comm frequencies, only just what Tyran said through his vocabulator. It must have been satisfactory because Tyran said no more and Dyir brought the speeder to a halt on a nearby rooftop.

"What are you doing?" She asked. "The fight is down there."

"We aren't going to just run in there without a plan." Dyir said as he climbed out of the speeder.

When Tyran did the same Talisa followed suit and walked around to the back of the speeder to the large cache of weapons stored in it. Tyran was placing a box of some sort on his backplate while Dyir pulled two large Verpine sniper rifles from the trunk.

"How's your aim?" He asked as he handed one to her.

"I'm a decent sharpshooter." Talisa said as she took the surprisingly lightweight weapon in her hands. "You guys mind telling me what the plan is?"

"You and I are going to provide sniper cover from here while Tyran goes down there and does what he does best, killing assassins."

Talisa looked at Tyran in disbelief. "You want us to stay up here?"

"Yes, you got a problem with that?" Tyran said casually.

"How do you expect to kill them all?"

Tyran laughed. "I have no intention of killing all of those people down there, but I'm going to kill enough of them that it breaks their spirit and they run off like the cowards they truly are."

"What if that doesn't work." Talisa said. "Hapan troops don't scare easily."

"I've made more than one soil their pants in the last ten years." Tyran grunted as he walked to the edge of the rooftop. "And those aren't Hapans, Talisa. They're Nikto, not the most courageous group of people in the galaxy."

And with that, and to the astonishment of Talisa, he dropped off the edge of the roof and down into the fray below.

**************

Dain ducked back down behind what remained of his rented airspeeder and swapped out his spent powerpack for a new one. The slugthrower he had brought with him was lying on the permacrete empty and useless. Lucky for him though there had been plenty of weapons left lying around that had previously belonged to the Nikto crew he had killed before rescuing Aru from the abandoned KDY complex. The only catch to that was the Nikto crew hadn't exactly treated their weapons with the utmost care. So far Dain had overheated four scavenged blasters and had overloaded a fifth one to the point where it had detonated in his hand. His beskar gauntlet had saved his hand from being totally destroyed but he could still feel the blisters forming under the armor from the intense heat that had engulfed it for a few short moments.

The pain could wait.

That was the first rule his father had drummed into him during his training. Pain can always wait until after you've completed your job. Dain pushed the sensation in his hand to the back of his mind and looked over into the complex entrance where he had relocated Aru and the two kids just before the Nikto reinforcements had arrived. Aru wasn't in much shape to aid in the defense at all, not with a freshly cauterized wound on her torso. Her skin was ghostly pale and easily identifiable in the dark hallway. Burning her wound to stop the bleeding had been one of the hardest things he had ever had to do in his career. He actually liked Aru, even cared about her to a degree, because when everyone else had turned their backs on him because of who his father was, Aru hadn't.

She always had a kind word for him and never turned him away when he needed to bend her ear to relieve the frustration that his social predicament had dumped upon him. To hear her scream the way she had when his searing knife pressed against her skin had shaken him pretty badly, her voice ripped through him just as the kidnapper's blade had ripped through her torso. It was a testament to her strength that she hadn't passed out during the ordeal, he'd seen grown men give out to the pain while undergoing the same process. Dain hadn't had anything to properly dress the wound with except some of the bloody tatters of her tunic that he had cut away to gain better access to her wound to treat it.

She needed to be placed in a bacta tank soon before any infection could take hold, but once again comms were being jammed by the Nikto force that was making its own slow advance on his position. Dain couldn't go looking for the jammer until he had dealt with all of the hostiles and every time he peaked over the speeder there seemed to be more and more of them.

With a measurable degree of reassurance the powerpack slid home into his sixth scavenged blaster and Dain popped back up to return fire. The Nikto group were not going to get Aru and the two kids. He had to carefully pick his shots and with dozens of blaster bolts flying in at him at regular intervals, it wasn't an easy task. He dropped two encroaching Nikto thugs with headshots that weren't as neat as he would have preferred them to be. One of the many blaster bolts shot his way impacted Dain in the shoulder spinning him around and knocking him to the ground. His blaster skittered across the permacrete just out of his reach.

"This isn't going as well as I hoped." Dain muttered under his breath as he rolled onto his back and tried to sit up and retrieve his blaster.

Two Nikto came around the speeder and leveled their blasters on him. Only out of instinct did Dain's foot lash out and connect with the side of the nearest Nikto's right knee. The alien cried out and dropped down onto his wounded knee as his leg gave out to his weight. Dain pulled a combat knife and hurled it at the still howling alien, the blade impacting just a few millimeter above the heart

The second Nikto opened fire just as Dain rolled out of his line of sight. Superheated plasma rounds melted into the ground Dain had just vacated, as he continued to roll away from the Nikto he managed to grab the blaster that had dropped from his grip. He came to a stop on his stomach and brought the blaster to bear on the Nikto and pulled the trigger and nothing happened. That was when he noticed the powerpack casing on the blaster was cracked and was now empty of a power source. He hurled the useless weapon at the slowly approaching Nikto, who easily sidestepped it and kept walking.

Dain slowly rose up to his feet with both hands in the air. His eyes watched the approaching Nikto closely, he was going to have to time this perfectly if he was going to survive this whole ordeal. The Nikto came to within arms length of Dain, which was a stupid thing to do. Dain clamped his burned and blistered hand around the barrel of the old blaster rifle and forced it down while his good hand shoved upwards hitting just behind the trigger guard. The see-saw like motion the weapon made drove the butt of the blaster rifle into the Nikto's face. Dain then ripped the weapon from the Nikto's loosened grip and promptly put a neat trio of blaster bolts into his chest.

Just before taking a full salvo of rounds to his own.

He dropped down onto the ground breathing with a severe amount of effort. None of the rounds had had enough power to penetrate his beskar chest plate but the force of the impacts had still done enough damage to his solar plexus. Not too soon after he hit the ground the weight of his chest plate began to make it even harder to breathe and threatened to cave in his injured chest.

This is what I get for playing the nice guy? He thought as he tried to pull himself up into a sitting position. Fire raced across his pectoral muscles as he tried to move and he fell back down onto the ground. He was only able to lift his head and raise the blaster rifle with one hand, squeezing off increasingly less than accurate shots. His arm began to shake with the effort of holding up the rifle and his accuracy suffered even more. All too soon his aim deteriorated to the point where he didn't have a hope of hitting anything and his arm could no longer lift the rifle anymore. His strained arm fell back to the permacrete and all Dain could do was watch as the ring of Nikto thugs slowly began to move out from behind their cover and head towards him.

Several of them began to laugh as they encircled him, one was even confident enough that he lit up a cigarra as his buddies began to kick and spit on their helpless victim. Dain could barely breathe let alone fight back against his attackers. A low droning began to fill his ears and he just passed it off as an early warning that unconsciousness was about to set in a not too far later suffocation from the weight of his armor on his injured chest. Something large shot over his field of view and slammed head on into two of the Niktos that had been harassing Dain.

Dain heard the recognizable sound of two BlasTech DL-44s being fired in rapid succession and smiled. Tyran really did have a knack for showing up at just the right time. Just over the din of the blaster storm Tyran was unleashing Dain could hear something higher pitched being thrown into the fray. Verpine rifles, and it sounded like two of them. So Tyran had brought along some help.

Good. Dain thought, because he's going to need it.

**************

Tyran advanced on the retreating group of Nikto thugs, not even bothering to duck behind cover as he went. No he had caught the Nikto so unprepared that the hurried defense they were trying to throw together was just laughably ineffective. He'd had enough time to remove the jetpack that he'd attached to his backplate and the Nikto had even fired at him once during the process. It was a shame really, that had been their only chance to catch him in a vulnerable moment. Now that he was in field and engaged there would be no second chances, no relenting.

No remorse.

Tyran was going to keep up the pressure and advance on his target. With every shot he fired from his blasters another Nikto fell to the ground dead. Combat was where he was in his true element, it was simple. He didn't have to wade through a minefield of emotions and setbacks like he did with his personal relationships. He didn't doubt his ability to kill like he did about his ability to be the father that his son deserved. Though he was improving in that area he still felt like he wasn't living up the the expectations being set for him by others, most importantly his own.

His blasters chirped as their powercells failed. Calmly and confidently Tyran holstered them and continued on into the spiderweb of laser fire the Niktos were tossing his way. He pulled a cut-down version of the E-11 rifle from the magnetic thigh plate under his hunting kama and began returning fire once again. Automatically snapping from one target to the next as he dropped one target after another. No emotion and all cold calculation. His movements were machine like as his HUD relayed target information directly to his retina. He wasn't even aware of who Dyir and Talisa were targeting or how many Niktos that they had killed since he had begun his one man assault.

A Nikto jumped out from behind one of the many speeders littering the area and tried to tackle Tyran from the side, Tyran caught the alien by the throat and held him firmly in his right crushgaunt. He could see the fear in the alien's eyes and cocked his head to the side slightly before clenching his crushgaunt as hard as he could, ending the Niktos life in less than a second. He turned his head back to the horde of other Nikto thugs who had halted their sloppy counterattack and were staring at him.

Decked out in abyssal black Mandalorian armor, standing at over two-meters tall and weighing just over one-hundred and eight kilos of solid muscle Tyran knew he was a frightening thing to look at. He hurled the dead Nikto in his hand at the crowd and turned and faced them.

"Ready for more?" He hissed menacingly at the Niktos. "Or would you rather live to see another day?"

The Niktos didn't take long to think about what they wanted. In one large horde they dropped their weapons and piled into any nearby speeder they could get to without having to come any closer to Tyran. Some speeders were even overloaded to the point where they almost weren't able to take off. But in less than a minute the whole of the remaining Nikto horde was beating a hasty retreat from the lone Mandalorian. Tyran stared after the speeders for an instant before turning and running over to where the Niktos had been beating someone before he had shown up.

Tyran had only a small glance of who the person was as he flew over but that single glance gave him an odd sensation that he knew who the Niktos had been beating. Sure enough the prone form of Dain Dolvo was still lying where Tyran had seen it. Tyran came sliding to a halt and knelt down beside Dain.

"Well, well imagine seeing you here at the location my wife's emergency beacon is coming from." Tyran said as he tried to figure out why Dain wasn't moving. Their armor systems had linked up now and Tyran had a reading of Dain's vital signs, his heart rate was elevated and his pulse was racing, but other than that Tyran couldn't see any real evidence of wounds. "What's wrong?"

"My chest..." Dain wheezed. "Can't breath...take off...plate."

Tyran nodded. Trauma to the chest wasn't a fun thing to experience in heavy beskar armor, he'd been down that road himself a few times in the past. He pulled Dain up into a sitting position and Dain cursed at him every inch of the way.

"Where are my wife and the two kids?"

"Complex." Dain said trying to raise his arm and point behind Tyran.

Tyran nodded again. "Is she hurt."

Dain nodded his head.

Tyran felt his stomach freeze. He reached up and removed Dain's helmet and set it on the ground beside him before reaching for the fastenings on either side and undoing them. Next he tried to pull Dain's chest piece up and over his head as gently as possible, but still Dain let out another tirade of curses and expletives. Tyran opened up a comm channel to Dyir.

"Dyir get down here now and bring a medkit. I found Dain down here and he's banged up pretty bad, maybe some internal injuries, definitely chest trauma because he's having trouble breathing." He paused. "Aru is injured too."

"How bad?"

"I'm going to find out now. We're near the abandoned KDY complex. I'll set a thermal marker for you." Tyran stood up and Dain grabbed his forearm in a weakened grip.

"Tyran...I did...my best."

"I'm sure you did." Tyran said.

He was bothered by how quickly Dain had managed to get from the Outer-Rim to Kuat so quickly. At first he had said he'd be maybe a day or two out, but here he was just a few hours later. That was a question that was going to get answered a lot sooner than later. Tyran stood up and sprinted into the dark entrance of the complex and activated his helmet spotlamp. Instantly he was pounced upon from both sides being pelted by tiny fists and being called names that he recognized but had never before heard coming from the mouths of the two children shouting them.

He only realized who had jumped him too late though. His survival instinct kicked in before his brain could stop it and his hands grabbed his assailants and easily pried them from his armor and pinned them side by side against the wall. He slammed Ijaat and Vyndra into the wall hard enough to drive the air from their lungs but he instantly let go of them as he regain control over his body. They slid to the ground coughing and Tyran cursed himself.

"Go ahead sleemo and finish it isn't that's what you're here to do?" Vyndra said defiantly glaring up at him.

Tyran pulled out a glowrod and activated it and then turned off his spotlamp and removed his helmet, revealing who he was to the two children.

"No actually I'm here to do the opposite."

"DAD!" Ijaat said as he and Vyndra both rocketed into his father's arms. Both children began sobbing uncontrollably and Tyran almost doubted he would be able to get them to calm down. He pulled them both close. "It's alright, you're safe now. Dyir is going to be here soon and the TRU guys are a few minute away. Where is your mother?"

Ijaat pulled away and looked down the hallway. "She's in the office. She's unconscious."

"Ok the two of you go outside and wait by that man sitting up against the wall. He's a friend and isn't going to hurt you. I'll go get your mother and meet you in a few moments."

"The Niktos, are they gone?" Vyndra asked with a tremor.

Tyran grunted in amusement. "They won't be bothering anyone for a while, trust me."

"Are there a lot of dead bodies out there?" Vyndra asked again.

"You don't want to see them?" Tyran said.

Vyndra nodded her head instead of verbally confirming her fears. Tyran assumed that she didn't want to admit that she was frightened of something, a trait she no doubt inherited from her mother. Tyran nodded and grabbed her hand and placed it in Ijaat's.

"Ijaat you lead Vyndra out of here ok? I need you to be the brave one this time. Can you do that?"

Ijaat looked at Vyndra and then at his father and nodded. "Yeah, I can do that."

Tyran patted him on the shoulder. "Good, now get going."

He handed Ijaat the glowrod and grabbed his helmet from the floor and hooked it to his belt. The two kids slowly disappeared down the hallway towards the exit, hand in hand. Tyran activated another glowrod and began to the opposite end of the hallway toward the office that Ijaat had mentioned. Tyran went only ten meters before finding the right doorway. He peeked around the corner and inhaled sharply. His wife was lying on the floor in a curled up ball. Most of her mid section was visible because someone, probably Dain, had cut away the lower portion of her tunic. The skin of her abdomen was tinged pink with blood and the rest was ghostly white. Slowly Tyran knelt down beside her and removed the crushgaunt on his right hand before sliding his fingers along her neck searching for a pulse.

Her skin was like ice but still he found a strong pulse, beating resiliently against his index and middle fingers.

"That's my girl," he said quietly as he kissed her softly on her forehead. He slid his arms under his wife's unconscious form, took a moment to calm himself and lifted her off the cold permacrete floor. "You just hang in there a little longer, I'm getting you out of here."


KESKAR'S INN, BIN PRIME, BALMORRA
EIGHTEEN DAYS AFTER THE BOMBING OF THE ELITE HOTEL

Savah Tervho hit the man dead center on the bridge of his nose and pulled her SoroSuub X-30 blaster and aimed it at his friend and fired off a short stun round. She tucked a rogue lock of her dark brown hair behind her ear and leaned over the man writhing on the floor holding his face.

"You broke my nose." He said as blood leaked out from between his fingers.

"And you put your hand some place it didn't belong." She hissed kicking him hard in the groin. The crowd that had gathered, the male portion at least, let out a collective groan as the man yelped and curled into a ball.

"Maybe next time you decide to try your cheesy pick-up lines on someone, you might consider keeping your hands to yourself unless invited to do otherwise!"

She kicked him again and this time the man vomited. Pleased with her work and after giving a sweeping glance to the crowd of men staring at her, Savah returned to the bar and ordered another drink.

"Do you think he knew you were a Mandalorian?" The bartender asked as he handed her a bottle of local ale.

"He does now." Savah said as she slid him a few extra credits. "Just in case I damaged anything."

The bartender laughed. "Oh you didn't damage a thing Miss. That man has been a pest around this establishment for years, BPSF won't do anything, so I should be thanking you."

Savah gave the bartender a toothy grin. "Then how about voiding my tab and putting everything on the house?"

"I guess I can do that."

Savah nodded and slapped her hand on the bar. "Keep 'em coming then."

The bartender smiled and walked further down the counter to another patron wanting to place an order. Savah looked up at the vidscreen behind the bar and sighed. The Holonet was buzzing with the actions Jacen solo had taken since becoming head of the Galactic Alliance Guard. People were claiming his detainment of Corellians in Galactic City was wrongful, others were saying it was justified given the current state of affairs between Corellia and the Galactic Alliance.

Personally Savah didn't really care, she was hoping for a shooting war because shooting wars meant job opportunities. Though she wasn't as worse off as some other Mandalorian families, like the Numecks, she was still always trying to pad her bank account a little. She had to because Kial kept wasting his profits on sabacc games that he never won. That was another reason she was hoping for a war, it meant she wouldn't have to spend as much time with the miserable shabuir. Ever since losing his arm in the Yuuzhan Vong war Kial Volar had become an even more cynical and bleak hearted man than he already had been, and she hadn't thought he could have surpassed that level.

They weren't married, Kial didn't want that, nor did he want children or any of the things that Savah seemed to want. But because of circumstances Savah had created for herself as a young teenager, she wasn't getting many male callers and any that she did turned out to be the same kind of man she was already with. She didn't like being called his girlfriend and he didn't like being called a significant other, no she and Kial were just together but separated at the same time. They didn't hate each other but they didn't like each other either, it was a relationship of contradictions and that was it.

Savah was growing tired of it, ten years of that kind of relationship was more than she could bear. No she needed something new and needed it soon. Her commlink began to beep and she pressed the wireless receiver in her ear.

"Tervho...Yeah I'm close to there...Balmorra...I can be there in a few hours...How bad?...No price, I'll do this one for free...Alright I'll see you in a couple of hours."

Savah turned off the receiver and asked the bartender if she could get a case of the local ale to go. He pulled one from a chiller under the bar and handed it to her. Savah grabbed the case of ale and the rest of her gear and hurried out the door.

It turned out she might be getting something new a lot sooner than she expected.

 

"Have a little faith lady." He said sourly as he avoided yet another potentially lethal crash. "I'm a highly trained evasive driver."

*eye twitches* Well that sounds dangerous.
It READS dangerously.


Talisa had her fingers crossed that Dain's brawn matched his brain because Tyran's sure did. You didn't defeat over two-dozen Hapan assassin squads just by shear strength alone.

Don’t worry, Talisa. It does [witch].
Hah! Yes, Tyran is quite efficient. It’s a Mando trait.

I am glad the homing beacon was activated in time.


"And those aren't Hapans, Talisa. They're Nikto

That difference sometimes makes all the…difference.


That was the first rule his father had drummed into him during his training. Pain can always wait until after you've completed your job.

On one hand, that makes me sad. On the others, that’s what soldiers do. They let the adrenaline and/or the mission overpower them and worry about the pain/injuries later.

Dain’s thoughts of Aru made me smile. She is a wonderful woman.


The Nikto group were not going to get Aru and the two kids.

THAT’S FOR DANG SURE!

Dain and the Niktos underestimating each other was done very well.


No he had caught the Nikto so unprepared that the hurried defense they were trying to throw together was just laughably ineffective. He'd had enough time to remove the jetpack that he'd attached to his backplate and the Nikto had even fired at him once during the process.

Laughable? Yes. Rolling eyes at the Nikto? Yes.
Go Tyran!


He was bothered by how quickly Dain had managed to get from the Outer-Rim to Kuat so quickly. At first he had said he'd be maybe a day or two out, but here he was just a few hours later. That was a question that was going to get answered a lot sooner than later.

Maybe Dain will tell Tyran of his initial mission and will get out of it. Maybe?


He only realized who had jumped him too late though. His survival instinct kicked in before his brain could stop it and his hands grabbed his assailants and easily pried them from his armor and pinned them side by side against the wall. He slammed Ijaat and Vyndra into the wall

So I mentally cursed at that. Holy cow, I’m glad they’re okay! That was scary!


Ijaat looked at Vyndra and then at his father and nodded. "Yeah, I can do that."

*laughs* Well, he sure SOUNDS like the brave one!

Aaand I kind of want to throw up with Aru.


"Maybe next time you decide to try your cheesy pick-up lines on someone, you might consider keeping your hands to yourself unless invited to do otherwise!"

I completely agree with her!!


Savah looked up at the vidscreen behind the bar and sighed. The Holonet was buzzing with the actions Jacen solo had taken since becoming head of the Galactic Alliance Guard.

Ugh.

She didn't like being called his girlfriend and he didn't like being called a significant other, no she and Kial were just together but separated at the same time. They didn't hate each other but they didn't like each other either, it was a relationship of contradictions and that was it.

Well that’s just too complicated for me.

 

The amazing thing about the last update is that you were able to put tender moments into all the fighting. Such as:

"That's my girl," he said quietly as he kissed her softly on her forehead. He slid his arms under his wife's unconscious form, took a moment to calm himself and lifted her off the cold permacrete floor. "You just hang in there a little longer, I'm getting you out of here."

 

SWpants I figured you'd like Savah. Yes indeed the relationship she had with Kal Volar is a very complicated one. But there are reasons for it.

AzureAngel2 I'm flattered you thought the last update was amazing. As much as I am for nonstop action every once and a while some tenderness needs to be injected into the mix.

 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN


ODS HEADQUARTERS, KUAT CITY, KUAT 40 ABY
NINETEEN DAYS AFTER THE BOMBING OF THE ELITE HOTEL


The room was cold.

That was the most prominent remark Talisa could make about her current surroundings, it was cold and dark. Most interrogation rooms were that way though in order to make the occupant less comfortable and give the interrogators a mental edge. In her particular case though Talisa was a trained interrogator herself and has spent plenty of time in rooms just like this one during her career as a special forces commando in the Hapan military. Normally being in this kind of room wouldn't have bothered her much, wouldn't have given the other side an edge over her, but she wasn't her normal self. She had to lookout for the interest of her unborn child and at the current moment those best interests were to do the very thing she had been trained not to: to talk to the enemy.

Talisa couldn't say she had ever felt afraid of anyone like she did when she looked at Tyran Numeck, especially after the display of skill he had shown in dealing with all of those Nikto's. Now she understood why all of the previous attempts by Hapan forces to kill Neada Tash had failed, Tyran was simply just out of their league. When he wore that impossibly black Mandalorian armor he seemed to be the image of death personified. Being locked up in a cold, dark room with him scared her to her very core. Just having seeing him slaughter two-thirds of the Nikto's and scaring off the final third with nothing more than a simple verbal threat had left no doubt in her mind that Tyran was the most dangerous kind of killer there was: a confident one. With Dain being in a bacta tank for the next twenty-four hours, maybe even forty-eight, there was no one who was truly on her side to prevent him from doing exactly what Tyran had promised her he would do if his family had been hurt by the Hapans.

No, Talisa had to give him everything she knew about the entire Hapan network operating on Kuat. In reality she knew far more names than just those of Losa Faim, the logistics officer who helped to place her and her team wherever they needed to be to have the optimal chance of capturing Vyndra Tash. Talisa actually had two or maybe even three dozen names she could give Tyran and she only hoped that would be enough to secure her safety.

A high-pitched suction sound cut through the room as the one door opened up and Tyran's dark silhouette moved through the room. Talisa could help but gulp in fear. Veteran Hapan commando or not, she as terrified beyond belief. Tyran walked to the far side of the room and grabbed a chair and began to slowly drag it across the permacrete floor. The chair's durasteel legs squealed and screeched as Tyran dragged the chair across the room towards the old durasteel table in the center of the small room. It was a very successful intimidation tactic. He placed it opposite of Talisa and sat down, fixing her with his unnaturally ice-blue eyes.

After a few moments of empty silence Talisa decided to open the conversation. "Your wife, how is she?"

Tyran's eyes narrowed but never left Talisa. "Two weeks in a bacta tank, and one more week recovering further in our medcenter."

Talisa exerted all of her will to keep from shivering as Tyran spoke. The tone of his voice was the type of quietness that came with barely restrained rage that was boiling inches from the surface.

"Before you ask, my son suffered a minor concussion and a severely sprained wrist. Vyndra only had a small cut that required less than three stitches to seal up." Tyran said as he reached into his pocket making Talisa sit up straighter in her own chair. "Now let's get to the matter of why you're here shall we?" He slid a pad of flimsi over to her and held the stylus back in his hand. "If you try anything after I give this to you, I'm going to hurt you...badly."

"You'll get my full cooperation." Talisa said shakily.

Tyran held his gaze for a few seconds longer and rolled the stylus across the table to her. "I want you to write down every name you know, and list what they do for the Hapan network next to their name."

Talisa inhaled and began to write. "What happens once I give you this list? Do I get to go free?"

"No, not until we've apprehended or killed every name on that list. Once that's done then you are free to go wherever Dain planned to take you."

"How long will that take?"

"Weeks, maybe a month or two at the most." Tyran said. "We'll have to do some intel gathering on each target, extensive background checks to make sure that they are who you say they are."

"You have access to the Hapan personnel database?" Talisa said looking up from the flimsi she was writing on.

"Does that worry you?" Tyran asked. "Were you planning on righting down a few names you memorized from the Kuat comm directory?"

"No, I just didn't think an organization like yours had the ability to achieve such a feat as hacking into the Hapan defense network."

"Well first off we didn't hack into it and second I'm not going to tell you how we got that information." Tyran said. "Finish writing."

Talisa did as instructed. "If you didn't hack into the network, how can you be sure your intel on Hapan personnel is accurate."

"Believe me when I say it's accurate." Tyran said flatly.

Talisa finished writing and slid a full page of flimsi, front and back, with names of Hapan operatives to Tyran. "The only problem I have is that some of those names might not match up with your information."

"Why would that be?"

"Those are just the names I knew them by, they could be aliases."

Tyran gave her a predatory grin. "That's not going to stop me from finding them and killing them." He took the flimsi, folded it and tucked into his pocket as he stood up. "Thank you for the cooperation, once Dyir get's back from his errand we'll have him move you to quarters in the barracks where you are to remain unless told otherwise."

"I've avoided doing anything that might get me killed so far and I'm not about to start being a problem now." Talisa said. "If I'm supposed to stay in my room then that's where I'll stay, but could you see about getting me a jacket or something?"

"I'll see." Tyran said.

With that he exited the room leaving Talisa to sit in the icy gloom to contemplate what she had just done.

"I've got the list and I'm on my way up to your office now." Tyran said into his wireless comm receiver. "We've got maybe twenty-five or thirty names for the intel guys to dig through."

"Good, I just hope that sending you and Dyir to Hapes last month to get that personnel data was worth the risk." Neada said back.

"Have Dyir and I ever let you down?" Tyran said with a resigned smirk as he stepped into a turbolift and pressed the icon for the third floor.

"No, you and Dyir have performed flawlessly but that reminds me that we need to talk about something."

Tyran closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "About what?" He asked though he suspected he knew the answer.

"About your wife and her performance in the field the other day." Neada said softly. "I just want to go over the report that Ijaat and Vyndra gave when we talked to them."

"You want to give my wife a performance review while she's recovering in a bacta tank?" Tyran said.

"Tyran, her job isn't in danger anymore than yours is. You know the drill though. After every event like this, the reaction and response of the security operatives involved are reviewed to make sure they performed as expected." Neada said in a soothing tone. "It's company policy."

Tyran exhaled audibly. He had been through that procedure so many times that the review board had actually just stopped reviewing anything he was involved in. If they saw Tyran's name on any particular file they now automatically assumed that things had been handled in a quick, efficient and professional manner.

"I know that its policy, the last few hours for me have been kind of...long."

"I understand." Neada said. "We don't have to do the review today if you don't want to, we can push it back a little further until Aru is out of the bacta tank."

"That sounds like the best idea to me." Tyran said. "Aru wouldn't like the idea of not being able to defend her actions."

"I'm sure you could have put up a decent argument in her stead if the review board found anything wrong."

"I just don't like that we're judging her actions based off of a report given by two ten year old children who just went through a very traumatizing event."

"I know but until Aru is out of the bacta tank we can't get any other information, Ijaat and Vyndra were there for the whole thing from beginning to end and therefore are the best source of information we have at the present."

"I know, I just wish we had something a little better."


SPACEPORT, KUAT CITY, KUAT, 40 ABY
NINETEEN DAYS AFTER THE BOMBING OF THE ELITE HOTEL


Dyir didn't like being an errand boy. It wasn't what he was being paid to do. His job description had specifically said that he was a close protection operative, not someone you sent out in the middle of the night to retrieve some second rate mercenary. Vyndra needed a replacement bodyguard until Aru was back on her feet again and as far as he new the new member of his team had been selected by Neada's superiors. Dyir knew he certainly hadn't called anyone and strongly suspected Tyran hadn't called anyone, what with his wife being half-dead and his son barely escaping a life-threatening kidnapping attempt.

Tyran hadn't moved at all since the medics had placed Aru in the bacta tank roughly ten hours ago. Last time Dyir had seen his friend Tyran had been staring at his wife, still floating unconscious in the viscous, blue healing liquid, with his arms crossed and a dark look crossing his facial features. The Hapans had just started a firestorm and didn't even know it yet. Dyir could wait until those assassins realized they didn't have enough water in the galaxy to put out the blaze they had ignited. Tyran's wrath was going to sweep over them with such rapid ferocity that the Hapans might even consider retreating from the planet, never to return.

Dyir couldn't wait to see what Tyran's dark mind was going to come up with in the next few days, but no matter what plan Tyran devised to deal with the Hapans, Dyir could guarantee that before it was over a lot of men, and woman, were going to die. Vengeance didn't discriminate. Punishment didn't care. Thinking about the horrors Tyran was going to unleash brought a sadistic smile to Dyir's face as he leaned against his speeder with his arms crossed over his chest. His fingers tapped on the sides of his royal blue beskar armor while he waited for his mercenary. The roar of atmospheric thrusters made him glance awards as a ship began to slow and descend into the landing bay that he had parked outside of. It was hard to pick out against the blackness of the Kuat night sky.

His HUD was always recording, a paranoid habit he had fallen into over the years...just in case. He rewound the footage of the vessel passing over him, took a quick still frame of the vessel and ran it through a quick NV filter, cleaning up the image enough to make out the silhouette of what was no doubt a starfighter. An old Headhunter, maybe even an older model X-Wing. Those were the only vessels he knew of that fit the shape of the silhouette he was looking at and those ships could have been flown by any number of low-rent mercenaries from any corner of the galaxy. It didn't exactly help to narrow down who the mystery replacement was, but then again Dyir didn't know every bounty hunter in the galaxy, but not knowing anything about someone who he had to trust with the lives of two children that he cared very much about didn't sit well with him.

There was no way that Neada's superiors had done a thorough vetting process for whoever they had hired to take Aru's place for the time being. Making a decision of that magnitude with such haste could only be disastrous. Whoever he was here to retrieve was going to get a very nasty grilling. Before they got back to headquarters Dyir was going to make it a point to discover every single piece of information there was to know about Aru's replacement. He wasn't going to settle for anyone less than a first-class bodyguard for Vyndra.

The little girl deserved that much.

Ten minutes passed by and Dyir, growing bored with waiting, decided to take a look at the Galactic Stock Exchange. He had a decent investment in a company that manufactured tactical gear and it had been a while since he had checked how things were fairing. He had long since learned how to focus on the information being displayed on his HUD as well as seeing the movement beyond the series of super-imposed numbers and letters. It was easy for him to pick out the movement of the landing bay doors as they hissed open and a figure emerged.

For just one instant Dyir was more interested in the stock prices he was monitoring until the figure came closer, becoming more than just a dark image back-lit by the interior lights of the bay. There was something familiar about the figure walking towards him, an air of confidence and swagger. He was certain that the person was a female, the sway of her hips was a clear indication of that, but things didn't click into place for Dyir until the woman stepped into the light. The purple Mandalorian armor with gray accents and the black bantha hide hunting kama became visible. Not too soon after that did a name attach itself to the woman approaching him.

His helmet hissed softly as their armor systems connected and a comm window opened in the lower corner of his HUD.

"Savah Tervho," He said flatly. "Can't say I was expecting you."

Savah stopped a meter from him and removed her helmet and fixed Dyir with an evaluating gaze. "I could say the same thing about you Dyir, last I heard you were dead in a ditch on Lurga-Nine."

Dyir removed his helmet and fixed her with an appraising gaze of his own. "You should know better than most not to believe every story that you hear."

For a moment their gazes were locked with an icy intensity, then in unison the iciness melted from their faces and the two of them rushed in to embrace each other, laughing as they did so.

"Of all the people Tyran had to take with him, he had to take you huh?" Savah said as she pulled away from him. "You guys must be doing well for yourselves, I see you got yourself an eye."

"Yeah, Tyran got us a pretty decent job here. Once I had enough credits I ditched that eye-patch for this thing, it's got a setting that allows me to see what's under a person's clothing." He said and when Savah raised one of her eyebrows in a skeptical manner he added, "Strictly for security reasons of course."

"Yeah I'm sure," Savah laughed. "You always did have wandering eyes."

Dyir shrugged and walked over to the driver's side of his speeder. Savah climbed into the passenger side and gave the interior of the vehicle an approving nod. She inhaled deeply and got to the heart of the reason for her being on Kuat.

"So what's the situation? I only got a hurried and brief summary from Tyran."

"So Tyran did call you?" Dyir said as he started the speeder. "I didn't know he'd done that. I don't have the most up to date information so I'd save any questions for Tyran when we get to headquarters."

Savah nodded. "Tyran told me he needed someone to fill in for Aru until she was recovered, but he didn't tell me what Aru does?"

Dyir laughed. "You'll have to forgive him for leaving out the finer details, he does have a lot on his plate at the moment. Aru is a bodyguard for the daughter of the woman me and Tyran protect."

"Aru? A bodyguard?!" Savah exclaimed. "She's a starpilot not a soldier."

"Well she killed three Nikto who tried to kidnap the little girl yesterday."

"Out of how many?"

"At least thirty, maybe even forty. Dain killed a large portion of the rest before getting wounded, that was when me, Tyran and a VIP we were escorting showed up and took care of the rest...well Tyran did."

"Wait...did you say Dain, as in Dain Dolvo?"

Dyir gave her an amused smile. "You've go a lot to be brought up to speed on.


KUAT SENATE ASSEMBLY BUILDING, KUAT CITY, KUAT 40 ABY
NINETEEN DAYS AFTER THE BOMBING OF THE ELITE HOTEL


Truan Stav looked at the sheet of flimsi on his desk and studied each name on it as Neada and Tyran sat on the opposite side waiting for his response. Stav had almost thirty years in Kuati politics and had become well versed in keeping his emotions from showing on his face, but some of the names that he had read so far brought genuine shock that he just couldn't repel to his heavily lined face. He set the flimsi sheet back down and collapsed back into his seat and rubbed his face as he exhaled in frustration. Stav let the tense silence that filled the room linger for a second or two before turning to Tyran.

"Do you believe this woman is telling the truth? Do you truly believe that these are the names of operatives in a Hapan assassin network operating illegally on Kuat?"

Tyran fixed the veteran politician with a fearless and confident stare. "She wouldn't lie to me, she's too afraid of what will happen to her unborn child."

"She really thinks you would harm a pregnant woman?" Stav said in a tone that suggested he wasn't sold on the idea as much as Talisa was.

"She has no reason to think that I won't. All I've done since I met her is intimidate and threaten her with physical violence, she saw what I was capable of when I engaged those Nikto. I'm confident in saying that what she wrote on that flimsi is the truth as she knows it."

"Are you confident enough in this intelligence to stake your job on it?" Stav said as he leaned forward in his chair and began to tap his fingers on his desk.

"I am." Tyran said after a second of contemplation.

Stav nodded. "Good, because if we apprehend some of the people on this list and it turns out that they aren't part of some supposed Hapan assassin network, then you're going to be the one who takes the brunt of the blowback."

"Oddly enough that isn't the first time I've been given a deal like that in the last month." Tyran said as the deal Neada made with Rixa flashed through his head.

"Senator, our analysts are running the names and photos of the people on that list with the images and names Tyran and Dyir gathered when they infiltrated Hapes." Neada said. "Every Hapan operative, agent and soldier is in that database, we'll know who to apprehend long before we put together an operation to do so."

"I hope so, because our organization alone won't be able to apprehend some of these people, they have the ear of the Kuat himself. We'll need the Galactic Alliance to take them down."

Tyran laughed. "You can't be serious, me and my family put ourselves on the line and you want the Galactic Alliance to just move in and make apprehensions that me and my people should be doing?"

"I am serious, you're hired as a personal bodyguard, not a field operative." Stav said.

"You only use me as a field operative when it suits you."

"I will agree to admit that your particular skill set has some advantages that I have employed in recent years, but this is not something you can force your way into." Stav looked down at the sheet of names again. "This Egan Roldo is the Chairman of the Kuat Defense Force's advisory council, he has dinner with the Kuat almost every evening. Tegar Kol is the head of the Financial Oversight Division that keeps an eye on KDYs books, she too has a seat in the Kuat's inner circle. Delmo Fald is the number two man in KDYs research and development team, again seated firmly within the Kuat's inner circle."

"Alright I get the idea." Tyran said with a wave. "So who do we ask to take them down?"

Stav steepled his fingers and looked at the two security agents in front of him. "I am leaving for Coruscant in two days as the head of Kuat's delegation to a security briefing. I will arrange a meeting with Jacen Solo and inform him that my people have reason to suspect Corellian sympathizers plotting to hit the KDY shipyards. Neada I want your people to forge the best set of fake evidence the galaxy has ever seen. Tie every high-profile name on this list to Corellia, money transfers, recorded comm messages, the works. It needs to be indisputable when I present it to the Jedi and his Galactic Alliance Guard."

Neada and Tyran stood up. "I'll get my people on it right away." She said as she turned towards the door.

"Tyran, one more thing." Stav said before they reached the exit.

"Yes Senator?" Tyran said.

"I want you to put together an all-star team of Mandalorians, you'll collect the remaining names on the list in a joint operation with the ODS and KSF. We'll leech onto the GAG operation and call it an opportunity to remove many other persons of interests in one fell swoop."

"An all-star team is going to cost you big." Tyran said. "Easily six-figures."

"If they're as good as you and Dyir then I don't see a problem with that, you two already make six-figures a year."

With that Tyran and Neada left the office of Truan Stav and headed for the Assembly Building exit. Once the two of them were outside Tyran let out a frustrated grunt. "I don't like involving the Jedi in this."

Neada smiled. "Because you're a Mandalorian and don't like Jedi?"

"Because Jedi don't know when their part of a mission is over." Tyran said. "I guarantee that we'll have these GAG personnel all over the place long after they've come in here and cleaned up the place."

"A little extra security isn't a bad thing you know." Neada said.

"Yeah, but I don't like people telling me how to do my job." Tyran growled as he opened the speeder door for Neada.

She climbed into the back of the armored vehicle and checked her datapad. There was a message from Dyir waiting for her, she clicked the gently pulsing icon on the display and read the two lines of text on the screen.

"You already found a stand-in for Aru?" She asked when Tyran entered the vehicle.

"Yeah, there's only one woman I'd trust to fill in for Aru." Tyran said. "Lucky enough for us she was on Balmorra when I called her last night."

"Well Dyir has her at the headquarters building waiting for us."

"You have that temporary contract prepared?"

"Please, I have a whole stack of them in my office." Neada said with a laugh. "This woman, tell me about her."

Tyran gave a tired laugh. "Savah is the meanest and most ruthless woman I've ever known, and then she's something else when she's angry."

"So you're telling me to stay on her good side."

"Savah doesn't have a good side, just a tolerant side and a sadistically evil side."

"And you want her to protect my daughter?"

"Trust me, she'll do a good job." Tyran said. "She's Aru's sister."

 

I FINALLY GOT TO IT!!

Normally being in this kind of room wouldn't have bothered her much, wouldn't have given the other side an edge over her, but she wasn't her normal self

Yeah. There’s been a lot of poodoo being thrown around in her life


When he wore that impossibly black Mandalorian armor he seemed to be the image of death personified.

I’ll bet it’s sexy too. Juuust sayin’


Tyran's eyes narrowed but never left Talisa. "Two weeks in a bacta tank, and one more week recovering further in our medcenter."

*winces* I’m just glad she’s still alive.


"What happens once I give you this list? Do I get to go free?"

"No, not until we've apprehended or killed every name on that list. Once that's done then you are free to go wherever Dain planned to take you."

That’s a good plan. It’s really good Talisa asked that. Heck, it’s good that Tyran knew the answer too.


"If you didn't hack into the network, how can you be sure your intel on Hapan personnel is accurate."

"Believe me when I say it's accurate." Tyran said flatly.

*snerk* a true Mando answer


If they saw Tyran's name on any particular file they now automatically assumed that things had been handled in a quick, efficient and professional manner.

Well that’s useful!
It’s real unfortunate that Aru has to go through with it while in recovery though. I do understand that’s how things are. I’m just empathetic.


Dyir didn't like being an errand boy.

Hahahaha I don’t blame him! His skills are better used elsewhere.


Before they got back to headquarters Dyir was going to make it a point to discover every single piece of information there was to know about Aru's replacement. He wasn't going to settle for anyone less than a first-class bodyguard for Vyndra.

GOOD. They all deserve that much.

Oh duh it’s Savah.
Still, Dyir is great at his job and should still look. He doesn’t know what she’s been up to the past few years.


"Wait...did you say Dain, as in Dain Dolvo?"

Dyir gave her an amused smile. "You've go a lot to be brought up to speed on.

oh the poor girl. “So Dain is getting somewhat along with the brothers now and…”


"Do you believe this woman is telling the truth? Do you truly believe that these are the names of operatives in a Hapan assassin network operating illegally on Kuat?"

Tyran fixed the veteran politician with a fearless and confident stare. "She wouldn't lie to me, she's too afraid of what will happen to her unborn child."

I was going to say ‘yes,’ but Tyran’s answer is perfect.
Talisa understands what it means to be a guard, to be a protector. A true guard – a true MANDO – wouldn’t give two osiks whether a person is male or female; pregnant or not; young or old. Anyone can be dangerous.


I will arrange a meeting with Jacen Solo and inform him that my people have reason to suspect Corellian sympathizers plotting to hit the KDY shipyards.

This can only end in disaster. and not the kind they necessarily want.


"Because Jedi don't know when their part of a mission is over."

Some do. The older ones did.
These days…not so much.


"Savah doesn't have a good side, just a tolerant side and a sadistically evil side."


HAHAHAHAHAHA I’m looking forward to this.

 

Talisa is really a hard one and got giving up! Phew!

But I will fear that a visit to Coruscant from Stav will either bring trouble or not change anything at all.

You also got me exited here when you mentioned Jacen!

 

The thing about Jacen is I actually had no idea how to incorporate him into the story. The meeting between him and Stav was literally a last minute idea, we're fifteen chapters into the story now and I knew Jacen had to come into play soon. I just didn't think it would be this far into the story.

 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN


SAFEHOUSE, KUAT CITY, KUAT 40 ABY
NINETEEN DAYS AFTER THE BOMBING OF THE ELITE HOTEL


"What do you mean Bruenor hasn't reported in yet." Aenica yelled at Dalrial as the younger Hapan commando delivered the bad news. "All he had to do was drag the speeder here where we would do the rest."

Dalrial shrugged nervously. Aenica wasn't the lenient leader that Talisa had been. "It could be something as simple as commlink failure or...something else."

"Tyran Numeck?" Aenica spat more than she said. "It wouldn't be the first time he's ruined one of our plans."

Deep laughter bubbled up from the corner of the room. "This whole ordeal is turning out like a bad children's holovid don't you think Aenica?" Talvar said. "We're always being bested by those dastardly Mandalorians."

Aenica scowled at her subordinate. "I'm aware of the comparisons but the results are a little more severe for us than it would be for a low rent holovid villain. We don't have much time left to complete our goal. Battle Mistress Sahn doesn't think she can keep this operation from the Queen Mother for much longer. It's getting expensive."

Dalrial and Talvar exchanged glances. "Any idea how long we have until we're pulled out of here?"

Aenica shook her head. "If we don't kill Neada Tash, or capture her daughter at the very least, in the next few weeks then we won't be leaving here. Not alive anyway."

Talvar sat back in his chair. "We shouldn't have ever taken that damn Chu'tira oath."

Aenica walked over to the window that dominated the western wall of the apartment they were using as their base of operations at the moment. Things were not going how they should have been. Simple operations were failing for no reason other than there were three Mandalorians working for her target. Then suddenly Aenica had it. She swore at herself for not thinking of it sooner. If Neada had three Mandalorians working for her, then all she had to do was hire some Mandalorians of her own. A dark smile crossed her face as she walked over to the sofa and took a seat.

Talvar and Dalrial looked at her curiously.

"What exactly are you smiling about? Our commanding officer is missing, presumably dead, the mercenary we hired to kidnap the girl hasn't reported in yet and is almost twelve hours overdue."

"I think it's safe to say that Neada's people made short work of him and his Nikto thugs." Aenica said. "But we made a mistake hiring Bruenor and his group of Niktos in the first place. Can anyone tell me why not only we've failed in our job, but every other Hapan team has failed a well?"

"Tyran Numeck and Dyir Carud." Dalrial said.

"Yes, and they are?" Aenica said waving at her two subordinates.

"Mandalorians." Talvar said. "Are you alright Aenica?"

"Oh I'm perfect, just perfect." Aenica said smiling broadly. "Don't you see what our mistake has been all this time? We've been using Hapans and Niktos to try and kill someone being protected by Mandalorians. If you want to kill a Mandalorian, you're going to need a Mandalorian."

Talvar smiled. "Do you know any Mandalorians?"

"Not personally, no." Aenica said with a dismissive wave. "But I've got a friend who knows a guy who can get us what we need."

"It won't be cheap."

"No, but it'll save our backsides from being killed or hunted for the rest of our lives like Neada Tash." Aenica said. "And I'll pay what ever it costs for that."

The door to the safehouse hissed open and Melrek walked in, a holovid disc in his right hand.

"Our man in traffic control got this for us today. You won't believe what happened to Bruenor and his Nikto gang."

"Tyran Numeck and his lackey Dyir Carud?" Aenica offered obviously.

"Not only them, but one more Mandalorian and one other person you might recognize." He said as he walked over to the vidscreen and inserted the disc.

A grainy video feed from a street holocam blinked into life on the screen a moment later. It showed a fleet of airspeeders swooping down around what looked like an abandoned complex. Niktos dismounted from the speeders by the dozens and began to create a loose perimeter around the complex. For a few minutes they just stood around holding their weapons in sloppy ready positions, as if that would do anything for their response time in the event of an attack. Sure enough about three minutes into the holocam recording another speeder arrived, it more crashed than arrived actually, barreling through two or three Nikto speeders. An instant later a Mandalorian came rushing out from the cockpit firing away with some kind of antique slugthrower. Nikto after Nikto fell to the Mandalorian as he began to advance into the crowd.

Aenica leaned forward and watched the holovid a little closer. The Mandalorian didn't have the blacker than black armor of Tyran Numeck or the soothing blue armor of Dyir Carud. This Mandalorian had an interesting mix of charcoal gray armor with copper accents sitting on a black flightsuit.

"Interesting." She murmured, "Do we know who this new Mandalorian is?"

Melrek shook his close shaven head. "Not at the moment."

Aenica shut her eyes in frustration. Now there were four Mandalorians working for Neada Tash, things couldn't possibly get any worse. But they did. About twenty minutes into the recording the unknown Mandalorian had rescued Aru and the kids, Bruenor had been killed and the unknown Mandalorian had been overpowered by the shear numbers of the Nikto. Finally Tyran Numeck made his entrance and for the first time Aenica witnessed the man's myth like skill. She wondered now if the color of his armor was designed to inspire fear in his enemies, it was certainly inspiring fear in the Nikto without a problem.

Then he just stopped his massacre and must have said something to the Nikto because they began piling into any speeder they could get to without having to go an inch closer to Tyran. A few moments after that the Nikto were gone and Tyran had returned to where the unknown Mandalorian lay wounded. They must have exchanged a few words because Tyran began removing the other man's helmet and chest plate.

"Chest trauma." Aenica said under her breath. Tyran had removed the man's helmet in order to get the chest plate off. "Get a snapshot of that frame and have the image cleaned up. Have our man send it to our KSF contact and have him run it through the galactic database. Lets see if we can't get a name to our mystery man."

Melrek nodded. "Already done. Keep watching, this is where it get's interesting."

Aenica turned her head back to the screen and watched as Tyran disappeared into the building where the other Mandalorian had returned Aru and the kids once Nikto reinforcements began to arrive. A few minutes after that another speeder landed in the fray and Dyir Carud emerged from it with a woman with long dark hair.

"Freeze it!" Aenica yelled. She stood up and walked over to the vidscreen, her face was almost pressed directly against it as she took in the image. "Is that who I think it is?"

"Talisa Raldi, former commander of Commando Unit Twelve." Melrek said. "We ran facial identification on the image already in her case. It was a ninety-ninety-point-five percent match to the image of Talisa we have on file."

Aenica began breathing rapidly. Her thoughts were screaming through her head as she tried to digest what she had just learned. Her boss was working with the people she was trying to kill. If the Battle Mistress discovered that before Aenica could complete her mission things were surely going to go bad in a heartbeat for her.

"We need to relocate to a position that Talisa doesn't have any knowledge of." Aenica said.

"What about the Network?" Dalrial said. "She knows names."

Aenica considered this for a moment. "It won't do her any good to give those names. There isn't anyway that Neada could link those names to the Hapan Military. Right now she knows all of our safehouses and weapons caches, we need to set up something new and do it right now. TRU teams and Tyran Numeck could be on their way here as we speak."

This thought mobilized the team.

"I've got a contact in the Off-Worlder sector of the city. He can set us up in a new base of operations."

"I know an arms dealer who can get us new equipment that Talisa won't be able to intercept."

"I'll monitor the KSF and TRU comm data we're intercepting. If anyone is coming after us we'll know long before hand."

Without instruction, Dalrial, Talvar and Melrek broke off into the unassigned tasks without another word. A cold line of sweat began to run down Aenica's back, it had become a game of out thinking one another now. She had to stay ahead of Tyran Numeck, he would no doubt be the one leading what ever offensive Neada was about to launch. She just hoped she was cunning enough to do the job.


ODS HEADQUARTERS, KUAT CITY, KUAT, 40 ABY
NINETEEN DAYS AFTER THE BOMBING OF THE ELITE HOTEL


Savah was sitting with her feet up on the expensive and imported glass table that dominated the center of Neada's office. Her arms were draped across the back of the nice bantha hide sofa and she had reclined her head against the soft material. Dyir couldn't help but laugh at her as she dozed. Neada wouldn't be very happy to see a pair of armored feet resting on the expensive glass, an armored woman sitting on the expensive sofa nicking the fabric, and she certainly wouldn't be happy to see someone napping so early in the morning, not when that person would be responsible for Vyndra's safety.

It wasn't very likely that Savah was going to give a damn about what Neada did and didn't like. He had a feeling that the first meeting between the two women was going to be a very interesting encounter.

His commlink buzzed once, Tyran signaling him that he and Neada were on their way up to the office. For just an instant Dyir was compelled to wake Savah up, but his more troublesome side decided to let her continue dozing. He sat back in his chair and continued to monitor the stocks from his datapad, the company he had shares in was doing rather well.

It was a few moments later when the door swooshed open and both Tyran and Neada walked into the office. Tyran glanced over at the still dozing form of Savah and gave Dyir an irritated look. Dyir gave Tyran one of his best I'm-only-human looks and went back to monitoring the information on his datapad. Neada stopped dead in her tracks and studied the sleeping woman who had her feet up on the expensive glass table.

"You must be joking," She said as she pointed at Savah. "This is the woman you were talking about?"

Tyran sighed and glared at Dyir. "Yes."

"She's sleeping," Neada looked at her wrist chrono, "and it's only a little after nine in the morning."

"Mandalorians keep odd hours Neada." Tyran said. "They get their sleep when they can."

"Dyir! Why is she sitting on the sofa in her armor and why are her feet on the table?!"

"You don't argue with Savah Tervho." Dyir said with a wide grin. "You just give her orders and then get out of her way."

"So why didn't you tell her to take off her armor and keep her feet off the table?" Neada asked.

"Savah doesn't take orders from me." Dyir said with a chuckle.

Even Tyran laughed at that. Neada looked at the two men incredulously.

"Well she's going to have to take orders from me." Before either Dyir or Tyran could stop her, Neada walked over to Savah and kicked her leg. "Wake up."

Savah's opened her eyes slowly and settled them on Neada.

"You better not be talking to me lady." Savah said as she pulled her feet off the table, audibly scraping her boots over the glass, and rose to her feet.

Neada looked down at the feint gouges in the glass. "Well I am, Tyran says you're good, but all I see is a lazy, ale soaked woman in fancy purple armor." Neada said as she took a few fearless steps towards Savah.

"Savah, have you been drinking?" Tyran said with a sigh.

Savah turned her head and gave Tyran a smirk. "You don't go to Balmorra to just take in the sights." She looked back at Neada. "Besides you know I'm perfectly able of working with a few drinks in me."

Neada snorted. "Tyran I'm disappointed in you. You told me that this woman was the only person you trusted to step in for your wife." Neada turned away from Savah and began walking to her desk. "How could you possibly expect me to put my daughter's life in the hands of an alcoholic-"

She was cut off by a sudden lack of air reaching her lungs as Savah's left arm wrapped around her throat. The cold steel of a knife pressed against her cheek. Tyran and Dyir rose to their feet instantly but didn't move to try and help Neada.

"Because I don't fail." Savah hissed in Neada's ear. "Because I'm not your average Mandalorian. I grew up in the wild on my own, I learned how to hunt and track and to kill because they were necessary skills I needed to survive, not because of tradition."

"Let her go Savah." Tyran said.

Savah pressed the knife against Neada's cheek a little harder to get her point across and then tossed the Hapan woman to the floor. Neada began coughing and gasping for air as she massaged her throat.

"I can spot a tail from several kilometers away, I can hear farther than most humans. I won't fail to spot an airspeeder with a tractor beam mounted to the bottom of it." Savah said as she resheathed her knife and crossed her arms. "If you want your daughter to live, I'm the best choice you have."

The room grew silent as Dyir helped Neada to her feet. Neada shoved him away and sat on the edge of her desk and glared at Savah for a few moments before looking at Tyran.

"Is she really Aru's sister?" She asked.

"Not by blood, or even by adoption." Savah said. "But her father did find me while he was out hunting voar beasts in the forest. I was thirteen."

"He didn't try to adopt you?"

"I wouldn't let him."

The room fell silent again and Neada nodded her head. "If you're as good as you say you are, and because Tyran to trusts you, and because I really don't have any other choice, I guess I'll trust you too. But if you mess this up Dyir is the one who is going to pay for it."

Dyir's mouth dropped open. "Why me? She was Tyran's idea."

"Tyran can't take the blame for everything that goes bad around here, as far as I'm concerned he's already got enough of that on his plate as it is."

Tyran grunted in agreement.

"What's that mean?" Savah asked.

"Don't worry about it right now." Tyran said. "You've got a contract to sign and a little girl to meet, and I've got a team to put together and a few calls I have to make."


OYU'BAAT, KELDABE, MANDALORE, 40 ABY
NINETEEN DAYS AFTER THE BOMBING OF THE ELITE HOTEL


"So your contact on Davstaa came up with nothing?" Rixa sighed as he fell back against his chair.

Ryia gave a solemn shrug. "He says there was a man named Rowel who had an account with a bank in the capitol, but that there wasn't any information on the man."

"How can that be?"

"A few years ago it seems someone purged the information database, they erased all traces of the Rowel account. They just didn't do a very thorough job though, my man was still able to find echoes of the account in the system."

"Echoes?"

"His word not mine." Ryia said. "I'm no banker and certainly no data slicer so don't ask me what he means by that."

Rixa swore silently to himself. The Davstaa lead had been the best intel thread they had and now it turned out to be nothing. Rixa nodded. "At least we can say for certain now that Rowel is a man."

"Oh yeah, that's one giant leap in the right direction to finding and slotting Red-Fang." Ryia said sarcastically.

Rixa gave him a dark look. "I know what you're thinking and I'm not going to do it."

"Delia is the only one who can get us the information we need." Ryia said. "I bet you my pay cut of this deal that she'll be able to trace those 'echoes' back and discover everything we'll need to get some solid leads on this Rowel person."

"Then you go ask her to do it if you're so chummy with her." Rixa said. "I'm not driving all the way out to Kyrimorut only to get empty ale bottles thrown at my head and have her brothers shoot at me."

"The way those Skirata boy's drink I'd guarantee that most of their shots will miss...well, probably."

Rixa shook his head firmly. "I'm not doing it. No way."

**************

"Rixa Numeck you cross-eyed, bantha faced sleemo!" Delia Skirata yelled as Rixa and Ryia exited their speeder. "You've got a lot of nerve coming here!"

Rixa scowled at Ryia behind his visor and could picture the large grin that was forming behind Ryia's gold-plated visor.

"Delia, you always have the nicest things to say to me." Rixa said sourly as he stood in front of the speeder. His fists clenched tightly as four particularly large men came out of the entrance to the Skirata homestead.

"Kevl, Volun." Ryia said in acknowledgment to two of the men as they took up flanking positions besides their younger sister. "Been a while."

"Not long enough, Devieyc." Kevl Skirata said. "Mind telling me why you and the Numeck runt came all the way here?"

"We need some help, the slicer kind." Ryia said.

Delia laughed. "After what he did?! What makes you think I would help you?"

"Well you're such a lovely person I thought you would do it out of the goodness of your heart." Rixa said.

"You've got a big mouth Numeck." Volun said as he pulled his blaster from it's holster. "You're brother isn't here to save you this time, you should keep that in mind."

Rixa pulled his own blaster from its holster. "You dreaming if you think you're faster than me Volun. And I don't need Tyran."

"Based on everything I've heard, Tyran is the only reason you're still alive at all. Pulling you out of the fire seems to be he main reason for existing, I'm not surprised he left." Kevl said.

Rixa took a few steps forward but Ryia grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Put the weapons away, we just need some help tracking down a target and then we're gone." Ryia said as calmly and evenly as he could. "We'll pay for the information if we have to."

"Eighty-thousand." Delia said instantly.

"What!?" Rixa exclaimed. "What makes you think any information is worth that much?"

"It isn't, but that's the price I'll give my services to a Numeck for." Delia said with a smug smile.

Rixa looked at Ryia. "I told you she wouldn't help us, this was a wasted trip. These backwoods lunatics probably wouldn't have been able to help anyway."

"Who are you calling a backwoods lunatic?" Kevl said walking towards Rixa.

"You and your psychotic gang of siblings that's who." Rixa said as he turned around and started walking back towards Kevl.

Volun and the two other Skiratas weren't far behind Kevl as he came to within arms reach of Rixa. Ryia stepped in between the two men, trying to avoid a brawl.

"Look, we're out of here. Just turn around and go back home." Ryia said.

"You come here, you insult my little sister and my family and you expect me to just turn around and walk away?" Kevl said. "Sorry, it just doesn't work like that."

Ryia couldn't respond because Kevl's right fist impacted him under his jaw and knocked him to the ground. Rixa ducked a vicious right hand from Volun and countered with a straight right of his own, knocking the Skirata to the ground. Kevl stepped over his brother, blocking a strike from Rixa and pulling him in close. Kevl reared his helmeted head back and brought it full force into Rixa's own face, staggering him. Kevl then planted his right foot behind Rixa's leg and hit him in the chest with a solid palm strike that forced him back, tripping him over Kevl's well placed foot.

Kevl pulled his blaster and aimed it at Rixa. A strong hand grabbed him by his neck and swung him around. Holding Kevl's neck firmly in his hand Ryia swung the man in a swift circle and then tossed him squarely through the windscreen of the speeder he and Rixa had used. Ryia then pulled his own blaster and aimed it at Kevl. He heard a slight whine and out of the corner of his eye saw that Volun had his own blaster aimed at the side of his head.

"Drop the weapon Devieyc." He said.

"How about you drop yours first." Rixa said as he pointed his weapon at Volun.

Ryia couldn't help but laugh. "Don't they call this a Corellian Standoff?"

"Something like that." Volun said evenly. "But there are more of us than there are of you."

Rixa looked around and Skiratas were coming out of the woodwork now, each one with a weapon of some sort in hand.

"This was your idea Ryia, I didn't want to come here."

"Drop your weapons." One of the Skiratas said. Judging by the way the other Skiratas stepped out of his way as he walked towards the group, he must have been one of the older ones.

Rixa didn't recognize the pale armor the man was wearing and didn't do as the man requested.

"I said drop your weapons." the man repeated again. "All of you."

"Uncle Jaing, you can't be serious?" Volun said. "They-"

"Did not throw the first blow." Jaing said. "They were leaving."

"Do as he says and drop your weapons." another man said. This Skirata Ryia and Rixa knew. His red armor was as unmistakable as his face. His face was pure Jango Fett, though it was older than most images than either he or Rixa had ever seen. Ordo Skirata strolled through the crowd of Skiratas and stood next to his brother Jaing. He looked at Ryia, Rixa, and Volun in turn and each man slowly lowered their weapons. Ordo looked at Rixa. "Take off your helmet."

Rixa hesitated for a moment but did as he was told.

Ordo studied his face for a moment and then laughed. "It amazes me how much you look like your father, it amazed me how much your father looked like your grandfather. Almost identical in every aspect. Very curious."

"I get that a lot." Rixa said, and he was growing tired of hearing it.

"Is it true that your brother has a child of his own?" Ordo said.

"Yes, and he looks just like me and Tyran." Rixa said answering the obvious question.

"Very curious." Ordo said.

"Whats so curious?" Ryia said.

"It's curious that one Numeck should show up while I was talking to another. Here, see for yourself." Ordo said as he tossed a commlink to Rixa.

Rixa caught the device and looked at it. It was active. Rixa gave an incredulous shake of his head. "Tyran?"

"The one and only little brother." Tyran said back. "Just throw this one in with the already massive list of you-owe-me debts you've amassed."

"Why are you talking with Ordo?"

"That is none of your concern, and a thank you wouldn't hurt you know." Tyran said.

"Thank you for what?"

"The only reason you would go to Kyrimorut would be to ask Delia for help, well Ordo owed Dad a few favors and I've just collected on them. Delia is going to help you free of charge."

"Well thanks for that. But why did you call him, are things all right on your end?"

"Let's just say it's getting pretty sporty over here." Tyran said. "It's nothing me and Dyir aren't used to though."

"Give the commlink back to Ordo." Tyran said. "We have some details to iron out still."

Rixa said goodbye to his brother and tossed the commlink back to Ordo. Ordo caught it and pointed at Kevl, "You, you're headed to Kuat tonight so get your gear together."

"Kuat?" Kevl said as he climbed off the speeder. "What for?"

"You'll find out when you get there." Ordo said. "Delia, you're going to help Rixa and Ryia with whatever they need, free of charge."

"But-" Delia began but the look that came across Ordo's face stopped her before she could continue. "Yes babuir."

"Then you two get out of here, and don't come back anytime soon." He said to Ryia and Rixa before he turned and walked back to the homestead.

Delia scowled at Rixa, who had a triumphant grin on his face. After giving him a universal hand gesture of displeasure she turned and headed back to the homestead as well.

"Come with me." She said.

Rixa and Ryia traded a glance.

"Like I said Ryia, Skirata women don't forget."

 

Aenica shook her head. "If we don't kill Neada Tash, or capture her daughter at the very least, in the next few weeks then we won't be leaving here. Not alive anyway."

And I kind of hope that happens.


If Neada had three Mandalorians working for her, then all she had to do was hire some Mandalorians of her own.

Hm. This’ll be interesting. And I’m not so sure it’ll be in a good way.


Aenica shut her eyes in frustration. Now there were four Mandalorians working for Neada Tash, things couldn't possibly get any worse.

Yes, they can. And they will for you.
But I have a feeling you’ll make it worse for them first


Her boss was working with the people she was trying to kill.

HAH! SEE! WORSE FOR YOU! :neener
BUT now they have an inkling of what’s going on, which isn’t a good thing.


"Well she's going to have to take orders from me." Before either Dyir or Tyran could stop her, Neada walked over to Savah and kicked her leg. "Wake up."

oh, now she’s in for it.


But if you mess this up Dyir is the one who is going to pay for it."

Dyir's mouth dropped open. "Why me? She was Tyran's idea."

"Tyran can't take the blame for everything that goes bad around here

Aw, poor Dyir. Neada’s reasoning is sound though.


"A few years ago it seems someone purged the information database, they erased all traces of the Rowel account. They just didn't do a very thorough job though, my man was still able to find echoes of the account in the system."

Yay for echoes.
It is an odd thing to say, if data’s been purged. But memory banks of technology extend beyond death.

Skirata boys!!
They are acting a bit crazy…but they DO have SOME reason for disliking the family.


"Uncle Jaing, you can't be serious?" Volun said. "They-"

"Did not throw the first blow." Jaing said. "They were leaving."

Jaing! Fairness! Love this chapter!
ORDO! *fangirls*
*Thinks of re-reading the RC series*


"It's curious that one Numeck should show up while I was talking to another. Here, see for yourself." Ordo said as he tossed a commlink to Rixa.

*laughs* Brotherly minds think alike.

 

SWpants I figured you'd like the Skirata cameos. I also thought it would be fun to have some Mandos with purely bad intentions lend a hand to the Hapans .

Dain's motives are still a little foggy as to whether or not he's a good guy or bad guy. It'll stay that way for a while

I was going to flesh out why the Skiratas were being so hostile but each idea I had made either Rixa or Delia appear in a negative light that I didn't want those characters to have. So I'll leave it up to the reader to visualize what happened between Rixa and Delia.

 

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN


ODS CONFERENCE ROOM, KUAT CITY, KUAT 40 ABY
TWENTY-TWO DAYS AFTER THE BOMBING OF THE ELITE HOTEL


"You think that they'll come?" Dain asked as he put his feet up on the polished black marble table that dominated the center of the room.

Tyran shrugged. "Most of them owe me favors, Kevl is the only one who I can say will be here for certain."

Dain laughed. "You really put together an A-List team of psychopaths and violent offenders you know. Kial Volar, a member of the Vizsla clan, that Skirata nut, and her." He said nodding to the corner where Savah was sitting. "Not mention you and myself." he let out a low whistle.

Savah glared at Dain. "I understand why that under developed sack of meat is here but why'd you have to invite Kial Volar to take part in this?"

Dain grunted in amusement at Savah's verbal jab but didn't rise to it. He pulled out his knife and began to pick away at some dirt under his nails. Tyran had strategically placed himself between the two other Mandalorians and suddenly thought about letting them go at each other. Savah Tervho versus Dain Dolvo would be an interesting fight. Instead Tyran leaned back in his seat and looked at his wife's temporary stand-in.

"Kial may be an arrogant and self-centered mirsheb, but he's a dependable mirsheb and he's always had my back no matter what kind of trouble I get him into." Tyran said. "You and Kial are the only ones I trust explicitly to not put a vibroblade in my back when I'm not looking. Dain, Vizsla and Kevl, I don't trust nearly as much...no offense." He added to Dain.

"None taken, the last thing I want to do is to appear as if I'm on your good side." Dain said. "Any word on Aru?"

"She's responding to the bacta treatments, but she's still unconscious. The doctors say she'll wake up when her body is ready." Tyran said with a sigh. "As far as I'm concerned that's good news. If she was awake she would be wanting to take part in this." He looked down at his wrist chrono and sighed. "Dyir should be here in a few minutes, then we'll see what we'll have to work with."

Dyir hadn't been happy to be playing the errand boy again. Tyran knew that Dyir hadn't argued with him about because he knew that Aru being in the medcenter was a heavy weight on his friends already burdened shoulders. Tyran knew that he would wind up making it up to Dyir in some big way once the Hapans had been dealt with and things got back to normal.

He'd most likely end up covering some of Dyir's weekend shifts while his friend hit the thriving nightlife circuit of bars and nightclubs found throughout the Entertainment District of Kuat City. Of course that meant Tyran would have to bend the deal he had made with Aru concerning him and the amount time and effort he put into his relationship with Ijaat.

She wouldn't be happy about that, but he was sure she would understand why he would have to remove himself from the equation for a couple of extra days. When you owed someone a favor it meant that you always delivered when that favor was cashed in, especially if you were a Mandalorian. That was something he had yet to deal with, Ijaat discovering his true heritage. He couldn't just let Ijaat get away with hacking into forbidden information unscathed, but on the other hand witnessing your mother getting stabbed was punishment enough.

In a way though Ijaat wasn't really a Mandalorian, he just happened to be the son of two Mandalorians. Tyran couldn't deny that his son had been born on Mandalore, but Ijaat had lived his entire life on Kuat and in Tyran's mind that made him strictly a Kuati citizen. Arguing that point with Ijaat wouldn't be easy, the child was the smartest member of his schools debate team and, in a school that was strictly for ultra-intelligent children, that was saying something.

He was sure of one thing though, when the stubbornness of youth and intelligence met the stubbornness of age and experience, youth and intelligence was going to lose. Tyran snapped out of his current line of thought as the door to the conference room hissed open and Dyir walked in flanked by three large men in full Mandalorian armor. Dyir gave Tyran a dirty look that suggested the ride from the spaceport to the ODS headquarters had been interesting. Tyran gave him a slight smile in return and regarded the three men as they each in turn glanced around at the table and the people seated around it.

The gaze of one Mandalorian in black armor, that was softer in shade and less intimidating than Tyran's, came to a stop on Dain. He lifted his large hand and pointed his index finger at Dain while he looked at Tyran.

"Explain." It wasn't a question, it was a command.

Tyran bristled a little but kept his temper in check. The men and woman in this group were not followers, they were leaders and they weren't going to like having to take orders from him.

"Kir, just take a seat and I'll explain everything." He managed to say calmly. Kir Vizsla turned his gaze back to Dain, who had an unpleasant look on his face as he stared back, and slowly clenched his right fist before taking a seat at the far end of the table. Tyran turned his attention to Kial Volar who had seated himself already between Dain and Dyir, but his gaze was directed at the opposite side of the table at Savah. "Kial, can you keep your attention where it needs to be for a few minutes?"

Kial laughed and removed his helmet. His sandy hair was longer than it had been the last time Tyran had seen him and there was a few days of beard growth on his face that only seemed to accentuate his grin.

"I can't wait to hear what kind of situation you've gotten yourself into that requires this configuration of people to solve." Kial said as he put his feet up on the table.

"Likewise." Kevl Skirata said as he took a seat next to Kir and Savah. "Why am I here?"

Tyran raised his hands off the table a little and nodded. "I'm going to answer all of your questions in time but first let me tell you why you are here." He said pressing a button on a control panel in the table. A holoprojector in the center hummed into life and an image of Neada Tash floated a few centimeters off of the surface of the table. "This is my employer Neada Tash, a former rising star in the Hapan commando ranks. She is wanted for the murder of her superior officer on Hapes. The charges were falsified by the then company commander Thel Sahn in a move designed to eliminate a potential threat to her own power. Neada Tash escaped the Hapans and wound up here on Kuat working for a politician named Truan Stav. Together the two of them created the Office of Domestic Security, an organization dedicated to preventing homegrown terror threats from damaging the KDY shipyards.

"For the last ten years Aru, Dyir and myself have been working as bodyguards for Neada Tash. Dyir and me serving as her personal protection detail, while Aru provided the security for Neada's daughter Vyndra. We've been protecting her from continued assassination attempts by Battle Mistress Thel Sahn's Hapan kill-teams. Four days ago the current kill-team operating on the planet threw us an unexpected curve, they hired a local crew to try and kidnap Vyndra. In the attack Aru was injured pretty badly. If it wasn't for Dain showing up and putting a stop to the attack things would have been a lot worse. He was injured in a secondary attack a few minutes later when reinforcements arrived. Me and Dyir arrived on the seen and drove them off not too much later."

"How did you just happen to show up at such an opportune time?" Kir said to Dain as he leaned over the table and meshed his fingers together.

"Because me and Tyran had an business arrangement that I was hoping to conclude." Dain said. "But until we get this situation settled I won't be able to do that."

Kir looked to Tyran. "What business arrangement?"

"Dain asked me to retrieve someone important for him until he could pick up this person himself, turns out this person happened to be a member of the very same Hapan kill-team that was responsible for that attack on my wife." Tyran said and Kir's suspicious expression didn't ease up any. "I know I found it odd myself but I've had a few conversations with her and I believe she's on the level. She's defected to our side and has provided us with information on an entire Hapan intelligence cell operating on the planet, we're going to take them down and put a stop to this."

"Why would you be interested in a Hapan?" Kial asked.

Dain sighed. "She's carrying my child."

The only people at the table who had known that information other than Tyran had been Dyir and there was some shock on more than one face at the table. Kir looked visibly outraged by the news.

"You should have killed her." He said to Tyran. "Why would you possibly want another Dolvo running around the galaxy?!"

"Dain hasn't done any harm to me or family, he actually saved my wife and I forgot to mention that he also saved the daughter of my employer and my son. I owe him for that. I understand you hate the Dolvos for what they tried to do but as far as I know Dain hasn't personally done any harm to you either. If anyone here should be sympathetic to the prejudice Dain has suffered it should be you. The Vizsla's were persecuted for quite sometime after your grandfather's death weren't they?"

The hatred on Kir's face didn't recede any but he didn't say anything more. The Death Watch was a sensitive subject with the Vizsla clan.

Tyran nodded his head. "That's what I thought."

"Alright now that the therapy session is over can you get to the meat and topatos of the reason for us being here?" Volar asked.

"In two weeks the ODS is going to launch a joint operation with the KSF, and a few military agencies to clear out the lower levels of the city in one large swipe. Wanted criminals, fugitives, terrorists and the Hapans operating here illegally. Senator Stav wants me to take down this Hapan kill-team, to do that I need some killers of my own. You people are those killers."

"Why us?" Kevl asked.

"Those Hapans made it personal when they tried to take my son. I want them to suffer for it, especially their leader Aenica Vorren."

"How much are we getting paid?" Kial asked.

"Figures you'd be the materialistic womprat of the group." Savah said.

Tyran raised his hand in her direction in a motion of quiet. "How much do you want?"

"My normal fee is twenty, but I'll cut off five just because it's you." Kial said.

"Fifteen-thousand." Tyran said. "Done. I'm prepared to offer the rest of you thirty-thousand credits a piece if you take the job. If you don't think you can play nice with the others at this table the door is right there." Everyone, including Kir, stayed put.

"That includes me right?" Kial said.

"No you get fifteen." Tyran said. "It's what you wanted right?" The others laughed at the dumbfounded look that came over Kial's face. "Alright, from this moment on until the raid, you are to remain here in the ODS building I don't want the Hapans to get any idea of what we've got in store for them. I want us to be a well-oiled machine when the day comes, that means we have a lot of training coming our way. Dyir get them settled in the barracks."

"You think Stav is going to be fine with the price tag your Mandalorian kill-team is going to cost?" Dyir asked as the group stood up and exited the conference room.

"He did say he'd pay whatever they wanted." Tyran said as he stood up from the table. "I'll catch up with you later, I've got to bring Neada up to speed on things."

"Think Dain and Kir can get along for two weeks?"

"I'm sure I can force them to if I need to." Tyran said. "Just have the EmDee droids on scene when it's over."


HAPAN SAFEHOUSE, OFF-WORLDER SECTOR, 40 ABY
TWENTY-THREE DAYS AFTER THE BOMBING OF THE ELITE HOTEL


"So, just the two of you then?" Aenica asked as she stared at the two Mandalorians sitting across from her. "Can the two of you handle these people Savah Tervho and Dain Dolvo and then take care of Dyir Carud and Tyran Numeck?"

The yellow clad Mandalorian huffed. "They wouldn't be the first Mandalorians we've had to eliminate."

"The hardest ones to eliminate will be Tervho and Numeck. Dolvo and Carud are your garden variety Mandos." the other Mandalorian said.

"How do you mean?" Aenica asked.

"What Gansh is trying to say is that Carud and Dolvo are good at everything but don't excel at one thing in particular. Numeck and Tervho are survivalists, they can move without being seen or heard, they can turn into living ghosts if they want and drop you before you even realize that something bad just happened."

"So how do you plan to take them out?"

Gansh smiled widely and she leaned over the table towards Aenica. "Because me and Bemok here are survivalists as well. We'll take care of your problem in short order."

"As long as the pay is good."

"If you take care of Tyran Numeck, I'll pay you enough credits so you won't ever have to work again." Aenica said feeling very good about her plan. For the first time in a while she had some competent soldiers.

"Well then, I guess we can do business right Bemok?"

Bemok nodded his head. "Sounds like a deal to me."


ODS MEDCENTER, KUAT CITY, KUAT, 40 ABY
ONE WEEK BEFORE THE BLOCKADING OF CORELLIA


Pain slowly crept through Aru's body as her eyes fluttered open and the dazzling whiteness of the room hit her eyes. A quick moment of panic hit her as she tried to recognize her surroundings. The last thing she could recall was lying in a dark hallway of an abandoned building applying pressure to a knife wound in her abdomen and trying to keep Ijaat and Vyndra calm. But as she glanced around the room she felt the panic subside a little and she started to piece together where she was. The white of the room could only be described as sterile. She could hear a slight beep coming from a display on the wall behind her bed and the rhythm suggested it was her own heartbeat.

It could only be a recovery room in a medcenter. That meant that Dain had managed to fight off the Niktos who had shown up just as he had began moving her into his speeder. She wondered how long she had been out of commission and how Ijaat and Vyndra were doing. The kind of experience they had just been through had to have been traumatizing on some kind of level. She sank back into the soft pillow and sighed, realizing that she had to trust that Tyran and Dyir had things in hand.

That was all she could do until she was out of the medcenter and back on the active duty roster. Looking around the room again she found a call pad hanging from the side of her bed, a chrono on the far wall of the room and a few plain durasteel chairs scattered about the place. It was the average furnishing for a room of its type. Her stomach began to growl and the chrono indicated that it was late enough in the day to have dinner so she grabbed the call pad and depressed the button. The response time was incredibly fast as she heard the door to the room his open not even a few seconds later. Though she shouldn't have felt surprised, a small sense of shock washed over her as Tyran walked into the room and stopped at the foot of her bed.

"You look like hell." He said flatly as he crossed his arms and grinned.

Aru smiled at him and laughed. "You always know what to say to make me feel so special."

"It is one of the reasons why you married me isn't it?" Tyran said as he grabbed one of the chairs and dragged it around to the side of her bed. He took a seat and reached over and grabbed her hand. "Do me a favor though and don't ever scare me like that again."

"You weren't the only one who was scared." Aru said. "I made a stupid mistake and stopped paying attention to my surroundings, I'm sorry."

Tyran gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and smiled gently at her. "You don't have to apologize for anything, from what Ijaat and Vyndra told us you were following their tracks when you were stabbed. Locating them was your priority."

"They saw it happen?!" Aru said horrified.

Tyran nodded. "I'm sorry to say that they did. They were hidden in a ventilation shaft not even twenty meters from where you were."

Aru shut her eyes and sunk deeper into the bed and didn't try to stop the tears as they pushed their way out from behind her eyelids.

"They must have been so scared." She said softly.

"They're ok," Tyran said. "I made a call and found a reliable stand-in for you for the time being. So far they've really taken to her."

Aru gave Tyran an almost fearfully curious look. "You didn't call Jaya did you?"

"No, as far as your sister knows you're perfectly healthy."

Aru pushed herself up into a sitting position. "Tyran who did you call?"

"I called Savah."

Aru blinked rapidly for a few seconds. "You or Dyir couldn't have watched the kids until I was better?"

"No." Tyran said. "Dyir's been in charge of Neada's personal security detail while I've been putting together a team that's going to raid the Off-Worlder sector and collect the Hapan agents that were on a list given to us by a defector. What's wrong with Savah?"

"I would have just preferred you or Dyir to do the job." Aru said dismissively. "Why did you had to separate yourself from your job to put together a team of TRU operatives?"

Tyran let a dark grin cross his face. "Senator Stav asked me to put together a team of Mandalorians to lead the TRU raid. He doesn't want any mistakes. I made some calls and over the last two weeks and got something together. Me and the team have been rehearsing breach and entry maneuvers, room-to-room clearing, and non-lethal take downs." He sighed, "I've been busy."

"Two weeks? I've been out for two weeks?" Aru said with an astonished tone. Tyran held up three of his large fingers in response. "Three weeks?!"

"Yeah, three weeks." Tyran said. "But that isn't the worst of your bad news."

"Really?"

"Stav is pushing forward your performance review to the end of this week. Whether your healthy or not."

Aru sighed in frustration. "You couldn't do anything to stop that?"

"I wasn't very thrilled when I found out and I had a long conversation with Neada about it when I did, but she said that Stav had his mind made up and wanted to review the way you handled yourself in the field before he left for Coruscant."

"Just what I needed." Aru groaned.

"Maybe you should have stayed unconscious for a few more days, I'm sure they would have pushed back your performance review until Stav got back." Tyran grinned.

Aru rolled her eyes, "Go get me something to eat."

 

So Azure does a longer update while you do a shorter one…
It worked out well for me and my schedule (and yay I can read it the way you update!). But it’s…GAH! Want more!

I really did love the Skirata cameos

I don’t think the bad blood is something that needs to have been put in-depth. If anyone has read the RC/IC series, they’ll know that the Skiratas are secretive but adopt 1800 people without blinking an eye. They have issues, in a way. And they’re as headstrong as any Mando should be.
Then considering the “feuds” between the Numecks and Dain’s family (Dain? Or Dyir? I forget) it’s only rational to assume that Mandos will live on the edge with each other at times.



Dain laughed. "You really put together an A-List team of psychopaths and violent offenders you know.

Sometimes those are the ones who are needed?

When you owed someone a favor it meant that you always delivered when that favor was cashed in

Respect and honor – they’re important.


"I can't wait to here what kind of situation you've gotten yourself into that requires this configuration of people to solve." Kial said a he put his feet up on the table.

A few typos (here; ‘said a he’) but I love how they’re essentially saying “Tyran, you’re amazeballs. What the kriff is going on?!”
Tyran’s explanation was great. Straight-forward and left nothing out.


"You should have killed her." He said to Tyran. "Why would you possibly want another Dolvo running around the galaxy?!"


Or, okay, it’d be funny if Kir wasn’t actually serious.



"You think Stav is going to be fine with the price tag your Mandalorian kill-team is going to have to pay?" Dyir asked as the group stood up and exited the conference room.

"He did say he'd pay whatever they wanted."

Don’t say it if you don’t mean it, right?


"If you take care of Tyran Numeck, I'll pay you enough credits so you won't ever have to work again." Aenica said feeling very good about her plan. For the first time in a while she had some competent soldiers.

I don’t blame her for making that promise.
But uh, I don’t like the way that sounds.


YAY ARU’S AWAKE!

"You look like hell."

That’s exactly what someone who loves you should say *laughs* Say it like you mean it and see it.


What's wrong with Savah?"

"I would have just preferred you or Dyir to do the job." Aru said dismissively.

Mmmhmmm tsk tsk you’re supposed to be honest with him too.

 

SWpants
It would have been longer but I had the OC challenge and my other story Something to Fear to work on over the last few weeks. Things should be calmer this week so chapter eighteen will be on par with my previous updates.

I have interesting ideas for the relationship between Aru and Savah in the coming chapters.

 

Like I said - it worked out well for me

I'm looking forward to where you go with their relationship!