Tatooine

[Rose Cariadus]

"Here here!" Shouted Rose with enthusiasm her beskar covered fingers cracked loudly on the fake wood countertop of the bar. Her buy'ce or helmet in common tongue was sat beside her on the bar top. The HUD dark and blending into the perfect black of the T visor. Rose’s armour was a deep blue with orange and black runes engraved over the heavy iron. It all clashed with her bright blue hair and when she spoke her hands moved in intricate gestures along with her words in the kinetic side speech of a Lorrdian. A long scar arched from one brow to her temple which was covered by a layer of HUD interface cybernetics that arched around her right ear across her face. The pauldron on her shoulder held the tri scratch of the Kyr'tsad. Marking her a skilled warrior.

 

“What does the Black Sun want with such a desolate world as this? And do they need mercenaries?”

 

-Translations-

 

beskar - Mandalorian Iron

buy'ce - Mandalorian Helmet

Kyr'tsad -Deathwatch Breakaway sect

 

[Rose Cariadus]

Rose’s blue eyes flashed with suppressed anger at the mention of the Jedi. Once a powerful force, reduced to nothing, their grandmaster assassinated while they did nothing. Weak foolish religious idiots in their high towers that sat back and judged the galaxy. The weak deserved death. And the strong the credits made from killing them. She let a smile etch across her face and took another long drink from the ale she had in hand and motioned to the barkeep for another.

 

“Credits for killing weakness? You speak my language Sunner, how much per head or are we talking price per campaign?” She tried not to let the nervous edge creep into her voice as she asked the question. She had no ship since paying off the last debts and this seemed like the elusive big break she had been yearning for.

 

She looked over her shoulder to the other Mando’s in the room she had met and worked with in the past in the bounty hunting and Merc realms of Outer Heaven. She gestured at Bolt who was glaring at the world and his sidekick Saint to join her at the bar. She didn't know much about them other than their deadly reputation and scowling demeanor. She grinned at them with a but of girlish and drunken excitement.

 

“This Sunner is paying big bucks vod! A break at last, come on over here.”

[Rose Cariadus]

Rose let the grin that she had originally made linger on her face for a few seconds before it fell off into a frown. Anger shot up her spine and she slammed her hands down on the bar in a burst of rage. Her glass that was clutched in her hand shattered and a half litre of ale spilled onto the bar and the floor. She dropped the remains of the shattered glass and wiped the blood from her hand across her face, leaving a crisscross of a bloody streak across her brow and chin. A warrior's facepaint. At least for the Shogunite Mandolorians. Her voice was soft and beautiful in its low tones as she crossed the room in a bound.

 

“Now now vod, we are brothers and sisters in appearance and armour only, I was trying to be nice old man.”

 

The deadly tones of her voice broke into a giggle as she got within punching range of the older Mandalorian. She bowed mockingly and let out a laugh.

“No but really sorry to insult you with my presence friend. I am Rose…”

 

Her bright eyes looked across his features with a look bouncing between desire and respect.

 

“Honourably at your service.”

 

She stuck her non bloody hand out in a traditional greeting. It was an end for theatrics, she had heard a lot about this man and his crippled friend and had nothing but respect for him and her.

[Rose Cariadus]

Nothing quite like getting punched in the face by a man that you look up to eh? Rose flitted in and out of consciousness until she felt her back hit the floor of the bar. She could hear a general gasp from the crowd and a tradtitional ‘no blasters’ cry from the barkeep. She moaned as she struggled to her feet, the room spinning before her and a good amount of blood leaked from her mouth to pool at her feet. She tried to grin but she couldn’t manage much more than a sneer as one side of her face really didn’t do very much at all. So she expressed herself using the kinetic language of the Lorrdians. He had a strong right hook, and she had lost the fight already.

 

She brought her hand up and felt the broken bone. She groaned and bowed to Bolt before turning away and digging into her medical kit. With a great amount of pain she straightened the two bones using her fingers and stapled them together with the medical bone splint that was in her kit. The duraloid splint molded to her jawline and stapled itself around the bones. Quite painful but effective in a battlefield. Testing the movability, she turned back to Bolt and let out a laugh that was surprisingly friendly. She liked him. A lot.

 

“You punch well sir, I learned my lesson.” She coughed and ran her delicate fingers across her jawline, which was now covered in a duraloid patch. Certainly did wonders for her appearance.” I would hope that you will use that strength for something like building our culture from the ashes it currently inhabits. And teaching young pups like me their place.” She winked at the older man, surrendering the fight, and not wishing to end up a bloody pulp from the slugthrower. “Now let me buy you a drink and let us mission together, perhaps we can be friends in time, and you can even teach me something.”

 

She turned to the barkeep and ordered their best Kuatian Scotch as well as signed her name under the mercenary contract being offered by this Black Sun.

[Rose Cariadus]

She shrugged, grabbing both shots and downing them. Letting out a hiss when they passed her bit tongue. “More for me then.” She flicked the pen back at the Black Sun lady and turned back to the smoking epitome of Mandoa.

 

“I have dreamed about restoring the past, but not much we can do since most of the Kyr’tsad went down with Hadrian to that shite king. A bunch of posers just died too, but I think they were more cosplayers from the holo reports how they were mowed down like laundry caught in a barbwire fence.”

 

She extended a thin hand towards the large man.

 

“Then teach a pup like me to be more like you. I’m willing to learn old man.”

 

She let out a laugh and walked towards the door, following the Black Sun towards the shuttle.

[Rose Cariadus]

Without a word, Rose nodded and strode to the overhead department, she pulled on the compression lever and slowly lowered the compartment door until it was wide enough to withdraw the heavy metal case. She jabbed the control panel on the side and ignited the silent microlifts and maneuvered the case back to the main compartment. She smiled at her compatriot and slowly stretched her lithe muscles as she got into her newly minted Beskar.

 

Tatooine’s bright duel suns glared down at them from AUs away and almost instinctively Rose squinted against their brightness. Her HUD automatically adjusted and cut out the harshest rays before they could burn her corneas. She smiled under the thick glass and walked through the dusty town occupied primarily by deep criminals from the Black Sun. Their stares and looks brought a chill up her spine and their leering at the two female mandalorians made Rose want to plant a fist in their chests.

 

Rose slid down in the windowless stall and made sure her vision encompassed the majority of the room. She extended her thin hand to Drogan in greeting. “I am Rose of Sharon val'Cariadus, of the Mandalorian Crusaders. May the blessing of Kad Ha’rangir and endless purifying war be with you.”

[Rose Cariadus]

“Well if you want blood, death, and endless kriffing war then you’ve come to the right place.” Her laughter, though muffled her helmet, carried a great deal of cheer with it. She finally pulled off the stifling helmet and took a deep breath of dank, tatooine air, that made her immediately regret the decision. She shook out her bright blue hair with a sweep of her head and held up one gloved finger indicating herself.

 

“I’m going to go get a drink from the bar, what’ll you have comrades?” After taking their orders, and leaving Saint to do the her much more experienced practice of charismaing up a new recruit, Rose strode swiftly to the counter and tapped it with two fingers, indicating an order to be placed to the barkeep. She turned her head and caught the familiar ‘T’ visor of a mandalorian helmet sat upon a countertop in the crowd. And she pushed her way there. She came upon Tros Ardell and gave him a sloppy grin. She ran her hand on his engraved shoulder pauldron. She had seen him and admired him on the mandalorian worlds nearly a decade before during the Augustine uprisings, but she had only been a bright eyed, blue-haired, mousy kid back then.

 

“You must be new here...not much of a rind on you yet eh vod? What brings you here from the safety of the Mandalorian homeworlds?”

[Rose Cariadus]

“Well then safety is what we bring, when all enemies lay at our feet.” She took a good swig of her cocktail and leaned heavily against the bar, her bright blue eyes searching his for any hints at his intentions regarding her. Did he see her as prey? An ally? She couldn’t tell as of yet. So she decided to probe further.

 

“I heard of that contract, strange not many more mando’s took it, it seemed very lucrative and more than enough to fuel your drives for decades. If you recognize me I was just a kid during the Augustine uprisings, I was one of the many children left clanless after it, Rose of Sharon Cariadus at your service. The last of the Caridadus to walk this side of the force.” Her eyes misted for a second. “We will carry our vengeance until I breathe my last breath.” Her hand went to feel the Deathwatch patch on her pauldron.

 

“Did you fight in the rebellion?”

[Rose Cariadus]

As she said her goodbyes to Tros, her bright blue eyes caught a new set of armour. The colours, though they were not garish or odd were familiar. Then again, Ros had to remind herself, there were plenty of Mandalorians, and plenty more that more painted armour. Mix those numbers with the amount of plastoid look-alikes that wandered the galaxy, and she couldn’t even be sure he was a Mandalorian. Only one way to be sure.

 

She walked after the man as swift and as silent as a deadly feline as he made his way to a table and then the slid across from him. The armour that coated her rear end, scraping a nice gash in the booth stuffing beneath her. She regretted the move and the credits that would go with it immediately, but there was not much to do but forge on ahead.

 

She extended her hand to the man.

 

“You must be new here, not much of a rind on you yet.” She laughed behind her ‘T’ visor before continuing. “But I forget my manners, I am Rose of Sharon Cariadus, May the blessing of Kad Ha’rangir and endless purifying war be with you stranger.” A simple test, one that she had insured with a blaster under the table. No reason to let an Arasuumite Mando get any traction on this planet. If he didn't see the triple slashes of the Kyr'tsad on her helmet and shoulders then said something pro Mandalore, then that was up to him.

[Rose Cariadus]

Rose laughed and with a casual fling, holstered the blaster pistol and shrugged overdramatically.

 

“I wanted to make sure you weren’t some di'kut Concord Dawn Mando'ade with visions only for farming. I am here to recruit for our cause.” She paused and leaned forward, the bright glow of the 'T' visor almost showing the menace in her voice. "We are going to purify the galaxy for Kad Ha'rangir, and bring everlasting honour and glory to our people." She laughed again, finally reaching up with a blue gloved hand to pull the helmet of mandalorian iron from her pretty head. She shook out her close cropped blue hair and ran a hand through it. She took a deep breath, smelling the stale ale that stained the tabletop and she grimaced. Her thin lips stretching into a half smile.

 

“Dar’manda eh?” Her hands moved along with her speech, at first almost looking like a nervous tick, but to a trained eye it was the kinetic language of the Lorrdians. Of which Rose was one. The hand gestures accented her speech, and one trained in the language could pick up more emotion and meaning than Galactic Basic could express. “Didn’t know we would find so many of our ‘Vod here on this desolate planet in the outer rim.” Her hands turned inwards, towards her chest armour, which like most of the feminine variant, only slightly exaggerated her figure. “I too am outcast, branded a Kyr'tsad, which I fully admit to, during the Augustine uprisings on Mandalore. What history or sad tale of woe brought you to this small cantina on a dead world?”

[Rose Cariadus]

Rose ran her gloved hand through her sweaty blue hair. Her voice was questioning, but her bright eyes were filled with wonder. Seemingly forgetting the rest of what he had said about his sad past, she plunged on ahead, her voice raising with excitement that reflected her eyes.

 

“You hunt Krayt dragons?” Her jaw nearly dropped, “Is there a hunt coming up that I could go on?”

 

Then she realized her words and extended a hand apologetically. “I’m sorry I get a little too excited sometimes, though I do strive to bring honour to my clan, why don’t you join us in this upcoming war! There is enough honour and glory to share, plus hunting humans is a better sport I think.” Her smile turned an ugly hue. “And when we are tired of that we can come back and hunt dragons!”

[Rose Cariadus]

On the surface of Tatooine, in the small city of Boonta Eve, in a even smaller cantina that smelled of stale alcohol and violence, the blue haired follower of Kad Ha’rangir sprang to her feet. In a swift motion she pushed the table down on top of Dark and leveleed her blaster at the Tusken Raider who had stormed through the doorway. Upon seeing no sudden moves towards violence from him however, Rose holstered her blaster and laughed awkwardly. She reached forward and wiped off the film of alcohol that she had spilled all over Dark and then strode over to the Tusken.

 

Daring to do what few on this forsaken world would ever do she reached forward and grabbed his cloth-wrapped hand. The music of the band started up in a lusty tune and she looked into his goggled face. She was either hideously drunk, or some kind of adrenaline junky mixed with a keen taste for bad decisions.

 

“Want to dance Tusken?”

[Rose Cariadus]

"Whoah whoah whoah, hold hip deadpool. No reason to cut this Noble Savage to bits now. Plus…”

Her hand extended and wrapped itself around the cloth covered arm of the sand person.

 

“I kinda like him, though to be really sure I gotta see what's under those wraps. I'm sure he's cute.”

 

She pulled him towards the dance floor and started a waltz. Her blue hair bobbing along with her steps as she whirled the Tusken around in a traditional Mandalorian dance. It usually ended with a sword fight and was reserved for ceremony and weddings but she didn't give a shite. Plus he could be good company in a fight

[Rose Cariadus]

Like Persephone to old Hades, Rose danced around the Tusken, twirling in beautiful circles, her Blue kama mimicking the bob and spring of her hair as they danced together. Her pale blue eyes wide and beautiful as she danced. Her mind on her distant past on Mandalore and Concord Dawn, and far away from this desert world. When he finally spoke to her she smiled and slowed her movement into a slow waltz, her arms around his neck and her face blissfully close to the rough cloth wrappings. Close enough that she could smell the rich spices that seemed to coat them.

 

“Outside deary? Where you have all the advantage? I think not cyar'ika. Let me show you how a Kyr'tsad that serves Kad Ha’rangir fights.”

 

She planted a kiss on the mouth section of his mask then immediately followed it with a furious headbutt and kicked him away from her. She rolled her head in an arc and cracked her neck, grinning maniacally as blood from the headbutt against sturdy goggles dripped from her scalp. With a flick of her wrist a vibrosword emerged from her vambrace and began to hum in the dark light of the bar as patrons scattered from the dance floor.

 

“Until surrender. Your move Cyar'ika.”

 

((1))

[Rose Cariadus]

With the fluid grace of a Lorrdian dancer Rose twisted her torso to the side, though she was not fast enough to escape all damage, it was enough to avoid the spearpoint and instead catch a jagged falange along her torso armour, filling the bar with the wicked screeching of metal on metal. The kinetic impact still emptied her lungs and she stumbled back a few steps and brought her arms before her. She thanked her stars for her beskar’gam and licked her lips in anticipation. With another flick of her wrist, the vibroblade detached from the vambrace into a more traditional blade, with handle and a thin guard. She kept her other weapons holstered and began shifting her weight from foot to foot, moving dexterously with the blade in a high guard as she watched her opponent.

 

“You spoke to me god, now give me your fire”

 

Her voice trailed off and her eyes narrowed to slits and her face a cheerful grin of teeth and pale skin. She stepped forward and the pack slung upon her back lit its internal fire, allowing her to skim the ground and add the strength of a mandalorian jetpack to her next blow. A horizontal slash at his legs, followed by a hearty kick at his midsection.

 

((2))

[Rose Cariadus]

Rose bit down on her lip as she began her strike on the tusken raider, her arm tremored and blood slung across the bar room in a wide arc that followed her sword. Some of the red drops misting into fine particles from the microvibrations of the vibrosword, which in turn covered her armour and face in the fine red sprinkling of tusken blood. She admitted to herself that she did not know much of the tusken culture, or even what this particular one looked like under his wraps. But his blood tasted good so that was a good sign. Rose drew her tongue across her lips, brushing the flecks of tusken blood across her tastebuds, discerning the copper and spice taste of the man’s species.

 

She did not have long to ponder the taste, as he countered her kick and sent her spinning into the bar. As the bar sped towards her, Rose flicked her hand, releasing the two handed grip of the vibosword and shutting off the microengines of the Mandalorian jetpack. This did nothing of course to break her momentum and she collided with the prefab bar with all the grace of an asteroid landing on a well populated planet. Drinks and patrons scattered to the wind and the wind left her lungs with a whoosh. She could feel the armour plating on her stomach collide with such a force into the bar that it dug through her underweave and split the skin underneath. She hissed through her teeth, struggling to regain her breath.

 

“Well done Cyar'ika, my turn again though.”

 

Normally she would not have relented anything to an opponent, but this was a ‘friendly’ duel, and it would not do to simply gun the man down. So she retrieved the vibrosword from where it had embedded in the bartop, taking advantage of his defensive posture. Slowly she circled him as she regained her breath, until she was ready to strike.

“So what beautiful face waits for me under that mask Cyar'ika?”

 

Then she stepped forwards and struck a blow for his chest, followed by a legsweep, aiming to put him off balance on his bad leg. Her blow was strong, and relied on the fact that he could not easily pivot or avoid it. If it was successful, she would follow it up with a flurry of strikes.

 

((3))

[Rose Cariadus]

His musk was overwhelming now, his taste and smell bit at her tongue like ambergris, folding over her tastebuds in a fine film of blood. It drove her mad, the full ferocity of his internal warrior shown in detail with every blow they delt. He was every much her match if he had some armour protecting his delicate flesh and meat.

 

The blow smacked into her sword arm, cracking against the plate armour and numbing her arm with the force. Years of training did not let her surrender the buzzing blade with ease, instead she turned the kinetic force to spin her arm into another dowards strike, this time delicate and carefully aimed at the base of his wrappings that covered his face. It was a glancing blow and would only seek to sever the thick bantha linen. She followed it with a very strong punch with her other arm to his facemask. Then the Tusken’s spear thingy hit the join in her thigh armour and drove to the quick. Her own red blood splashed up in a gush between their now fiercely locked bodies and her breath became a hiss through her teeth.

 

Dropping her sword she wrapped her hands around his head and dragged him down with her. She placed a kiss firmly on his lips and let go, Tapping him on the shoulder as she did.

 

“Now there there, that’s what I wanted anyway. What say we find a room in the medico together eh?”

[Rose Cariadus]

"Sure thing Cyar'ika, let me just get my legs back under me."

 

She placed a blood soaked arm under the crook of his arm and lifted him up on the ground until he could lean on his stick. Then she grabbed a scrap of cloth from the counter, dunked it heavily in whiskey and shoved it into the hole in her leg. That stopped the heavy flow of blood for at least a moment, but it also made her gasp a little in pain as the high percentage alcohol began to soak the wound liberally.

 

She hauled the man out of the building and placed him down on the edge of a Jawa’s recently purchased speeder. Who reacted violently to the idea of blood soaking his paintjob. Rose simply flipped him off, and when he approached, jibbering like a maniac, Rose shot him in the face with the flechette gun embedded in her arm’s armour.

 

As the Jawa lay dying in a pool of grey-blue blood, she becan the medical treatment of the Tusken. She pulled her metal sealed IFAK from her belt and opened it by slamming it into the speeder’s chome edging with one hand. The IFAK split evenly along the seams and Rose fished the antiseptic hypo from the centre. She pulled the rough fabric away from the Tusken’s wounded legs and applied the antiseptic with a press and wave of the hypo. Next came the bacta, then the medi-stapler. That was rough but it was better than letting them peel apart. She looked up to the tusken’s face, now highlighted by the harsh Tatooine sun.

 

“Cyar'ika, you look handsome! Tell me of yourself!”

[Rose Cariadus]

Cyar’ika

 

A phrase, or word that she had tossed around so easily in the bar no felt very much more real while treating the bleeding man. She pulled off one of the blue gloves from her hand and used her now much more agile bare fingers to finish the bandaging, hooking and weaving the bacta impregnated fabric around the wounds in the Tusken’s legs. She absentmindedly looked down at her blue painted fingernails, then sat down beside him on the abandoned speeder as Dark began his work on her. Rose placed her bare hand on the rough fabric covered shoulder of the Tusken and smiled, fumbling with the clutches of the thigh armour with her other gloved hand which was slick with blood.

 

“Cyar’ika means darling. It is a term of love or endearment. And I treat you like a brother in arms because you are one. I’m not going to let you die now that I’ve seen and kissed that handsome face.” Her hand tightened down on his firm shoulder as the stinging antiseptic was poured into her puncture wound. She blinked a lock of sweaty blue hair out of her eyes, and looked him again in the face. “Kriff yeah, you are quite handsome yourself, if in a weatherbeaten kinda gruff way. But what is your name Cyar’ika? My name is Rose, Rose Cariadus, though you can call me anything you want, Gamma Blue was popular back on Lorrd.” She looked at Dark and grinned a toothy smile as he finished up his patching. "And thank you for being here to treat me Dark, I appreciate it you know."

 

Her blue eyes looked out past the Tusken to squint at the distant horizon with skepticism. “I don’t think your people will get very far without technology in their veiled crusade. Sounds kinda suicidy to me.”

[Rose Cariadus]

Rose cocked her head to the side, letting her blue hair touch her shoulder armour. Her voice carried no mockery in it but inly a tinge of sadness.

 

“So your people have been here for generations and have accomplished nothing but scraping out an existance in the sand dunes? Your people must have been once destined for greatness, but whatever that destiny was, you must have taken a wrong turn. Perhaps you need and injection of technology and a side of passion and brutality. Then maybe you can accomplish more than killing a moisture farmer here or there…” She rocked her head to the other side and reached her bare hand out towards his gruff face, her other grasping his tightly on her thigh. She touched the tip of his nose with the tip of her pointer finger and smiled.

 

“Isn’t that right RoarRoar? We can all find a place in the stars to ravage and bring glory to our Gods. You too Dark...” She said, trying but failing to pronouce his name correctly. Her eyes narrowed as she watched a flying beast approach.

[Rose Cariadus]

Rose watched the Drexl land in a wave of sand and dust. She smiled back to the Tusken with a mixture of inquisition on her lips and mirth.

 

“Roarroar why don’t we just steal another planet’s water and bring it back here, i'm sure we could do it, seven hells they moved planets with giant hyperspace engines back when I was a kid let go kill some Mon Calamari and then steal their water and dump it en masse here?” Well to do that they would need a few more people than the three gathered next to the drexel but it was an objective for the future. She leaned down and grabbed the dead jawa’s arm that she had brained earlier and began to drag the corpse towards the drexel. Grinning like a maniac.

 

“Here Raka, snack time buddy.” She slung the corpse like a dead frisbee at the beast who caught it in its mouth. She turned back to Roar and raised both of her fingers in a ‘V’ sign before walking back.

 

She sighed and tucked her blue hair behind her ears before reaching for her helmet.

“Atlas, I will join you on this hunt. As long as at the end I can have both of your aid in assisting the rising Mandalore on Qat Chrystac, there is a crusade to fight and a million worlds to conquer. Though that can wait until after we have all healed and hunted a bit. And I must get you some Beskar Roarroar, I would hate to see you get shredded before I get a chance to know you better. I could even fit you for the armour myself if you wanted.” She giggled.

[Rose Cariadus]

Lorrdians were not renowned hunters, but Rose had fought this instint since she was a child the thrill of the hunt that was usually lacking in large game hunts was now in full force, the very real threat of getting eaten was something that kept her blood flowing and her eyes sharp. She slipped her helmet on over her blue hair and followed her new clan into the battle against the mighty wyrm. She did not so desire to kill it but she did covet the experience it would bring her and also the eggs that it seemed to be guarding.

 

She leaned towards her dear RoarRoar

 

“Do you think I can have one of those eggs it has? I want a baby one to play with.”

 

A little crazy of a request, but it would do.

 

((apologies for the crappiness of this post, super busy weekend))

[Rose Cariadus]

Legs...it had ten of them to support its massive weight but it was still wickedly fast, its maw capable of swallowing entire speeders whole. A little more than a relaxing hunt. She fed another large magazine into the T-21 repeater that she held with one hand as she hurtled through the air, dodging left and right of the beast as she pumped fire into its flanks to keep it distracted. WHen the powerpack was firmly in place, Rose blinked her eyes twice, her HUD recognized the commands and activated the Viper class grenade launcher attached to her shoulder and it spat a stream of HighEx shells into the hind legs. The thing was bigger than a CR-90 and it seemed to only be taking the blows of her and her brothers in arms like a bantha would take a pet from a human.

 

The explosions turned sand into sheets of glass that shattered in blissful sparkles as she sent another hail of fire into the probably hole she had just made. Then the tail of the beast plucked her from the air like a man swatting a fly. The beskar did its best to combat the impact but she could feel the impact crack across her chest and torso with the force of a freight speeder. Something snapped behind her ears and her breath left her lungs and her jetpack struggled to recover but she smashed into a dune of sand dozens of meters below her nonetheless. Her HUD greyed out and she skidded for dozens of feet before stopping. The sand rubbing the blue off her armour in smooth circles. Superheating the underunderweave, and then tearing into the flesh below it.

 

She wheezed in a breath and screamed into her dark helmet with the pain every breath took. Stabbing pain shot up and down her body and she ripped off her helmet as it remained shut off and useless from the impact. She looked down at herself and gasped which in turn caused another scream of pain. Her legs were twisted at an odd angle from her body and the sand was becoming a dark omber and sticky with blood. Her blue eyes blinked and she lay back in the sand testing her leg movement which was having little effect except widening the patch of red-black sand.

 

Oh

 

Luckily her arms remained usable and her military mind took that into count, her fingers tightening around a hornlike spine that was peeking out from behind her chest armour, slick with red blood and some kind of slippery slime that burned to the touch. She was very much out of the fight now.

 

Her voice was a whisper as she looked out to the now distant fight.

 

“I’m kriffed up roarroar…”

[Rose Cariadus]

A sharp, harsh, Tatooine wind picked up between the dunes and sent sand into a whirlwind around her. As she blinked back the dust, she tried again to sit up fell back with another scream of fear mixed with rage. Even the muscles in her torso refused her commands. She took another breath and that turned into a spasm of coughing that flecked blood on the chin and blue chest armour.

 

Oh kriff.

 

She let go of the spike and pushed herself up with her hands, keeping her wide eyes on her torso and the expanding pool of blood beneath her. She reached with one shakey hand and found that the spike had bisected her, driving through her back and luckily releasing most of its biochemical payload onto her back instead of in her chest cavity. After that she reached down to her torso and her hand came away black with sandy blood. With now panicked hands she pulled away the ripped fabric and then immediately fell back flat to her back. Her torso was twisted nearly 180 degrees from the impact of the tail. The skin ripped and dark with blood from the torn musculature. Most unnaturally she could feel none of the pain that would keep her mind sharp. Only a dull ache at the base of her skull as she counted the wounds. Her lower half was completely kriffed, her spinal column torn to shreds and she was very likely bleeding into what remained of her abdominal cavity which means that the would probably be dead long before any help came over the dunes. Even now everything was so heavy.

 

Was this what dad felt when he died aboard the Helix? No that was probably more along the lines of rapid decompression and firey kaboom of nuclear missiles. A better way to go out. He didn't deserve it.

 

Her thoughts turned to her dad as her bright blue eyes searched the swirling sands, interpreting shadows to be figures from her past. Her dad chief among them. His form in his blue Antarian Ranger uniform looming over her with nothing but a frown to greet her.

 

Bastard, you never gave a single kriff about me. I was nothing but a burden to a man that wanted only adventures.

 

A lonely girl stood at the edge of a spaceport docking clamp, hands spread wide upon the transparisteel, blue eyes leaking tears at the shuttle that would never come home.

 

Abandonment.

 

Then a whole cadre of faces from Mandalore. Lovers, crushes, mentors. Most of them the same.

 

What do I know about love? Only to use it until there is nothing left.

 

It hurt so much to even breath now and every time she moved her chest, the venom of that mighty beast beginning to turn everything within to liquid. Soon she would drown on her own organs, sadly it had missed her heart completely so she wouldn’t die quickly from that. Maybe the blood loss. Then the face surrounded by spikes of steel and fire loomed over her. She looked away from his gaze, searching for that ragged face of Roarroar, she was so ashamed. Ashamed of everything. Tears now mixed with blood and sand to coat her pretty face in streaks of shallow mud. Her voice was slow and tired as she spoke to the apparition above her.

 

...I don’t want to die...

 

Blood from her lungs formed a bubble on her lips that grew until it burst, dripping down her chin as the wind whipped up to a howl.

[Rose Cariadus]

It was so cold now, so cold, even though she could feel and see the bright harsh sun on her skin, but it carried no warmth. All the while the face of spikes stared down at her from above, the ‘T’ visor reflecting none of her features in its dark recluse. The ever present face of her God of change and destruction, Kad Ha’rangir in his silent glory, dooming her for her failures. Ignoring her pleas for help and love.

 

Her father in the truest.

 

Her blue eyes stared into the dwindling twin suns overhead, their orbs obscured by tears.

 

Dad why didn't you love me enough to stay? Why can’t you help me?

 

The mask overhead shifted, turning from staring down at her to look away in disgust. Anger piqued in Rose of Sharon, flashing her face with the little blood she had left in her upper extremities.

 

Now you won’t help me, you wouldn’t even hold me, you are no one. No one.

 

The face stayed staring into the distance as the wind calmed and the dust and sand began to fall back down to the ground in sparkling rain.

 

Why won’t you look at me?

 

Because you are worthless

 

Then it was gone, the apparition disappeared with the shuffle of Roarroar coming to her side. Rose closed her eyes against the shame he had to dislike her for such a defeat, an unlucky shot from the dragon had ended her journey a very long time before she was ready. But his face seemed kind, and she could feel the gentleness in his grasp as he slid a hand under her head to cradle it. His other hand wiped futilely at the blood and though she could not see his face she knew that he was grieving. She kissed his hand, coating it in another layer of pink aerated blood and airbubbles that came from her now dissolving lungs. Her voice was very soft and punctuated with a string of echoing coughs.

 

“I am sorry Roarroar, I guess you are the better warrior afterall.”

 

More blood, more coughing, and finally a lot of pain. She squinted her eyes against it and reached up a hand to grasp at the back of his neck, her grip still strong from the pain of her mortal wounds.

 

“I have so much left unfinished, so many adventures I want to go on with you.”

 

Her grip began to slacken and she slipped more into his grasp as death began to draw her into its maw. She wondered if Dark would care enough about a proper burial. She knew he would know what to do.

 

“I want to be there when you see Oceans and when we conquer the galaxy. I wan-”

 

Her eyes unfocused and her breathing fell silent as she listened to his singing. It was so beautiful. So...

[Rose Cariadus]

“What have you done?”

 

Her voice was dripping in tones of pain and regret, rasping out of lungs that had dissolved from the dragon’s venom, echoing behind a helm of cobalt. A lonely spirit screaming against her bond of mortality. Reaching to attempt to stop her darling from death. A horrible rattle marked the intake of ghostly breath and the lithe form of the Mandalorian female began to shift and squirm. The hands postured inwards and her body wracked backwards, her broken spine arching and her torso twisting foully to orientate itself from where the dragon’s blow had left it. The cracked and torn skin beneath her undergarments weeping blackened blood to splash upon the stone slab that was her grave. The only light that shone from the crypt was the eerie blue glow of a malfunctioning heads up display. The darkside swirled heavily as if beckoned by the planet itself.

 

“Why would you do tha-”

 

The body spasmed again, her thin arms flailing and beating themselves against the stone walls that lined her grave. The beskar of her gauntlets shot sparks that briefly lit up the air in showers of white light. If there were force users in the cave system they would feel the dangerous pull of the darkside as it stirred heavily in the room, pulsing like a tidal wave as her darling passed beyond the pale. Whatever had remained in this once holy sepulchre of the Tusken Raiders, now only shadows remained, spirits of the long damned searching for vessels to exalt among the dust of this chamber. The body of the young mandalorian ceased its thrashing and went stiff, letting out an exhale that clouded the inside of her ‘T’ visor with rotten blood.

 

mēs nonākam iekarot

 

A vessel the spirits had indeed found, and the Mandalorian slowly sat up from her grave.

[Rose Cariadus]

The sensation was akin to releasing a long pent in breath of air but without the release of a new breath to replace it. She could feel her body struggling as it stood, horrid in its appearance, slouched from ripped muscles and sinew, shambling forward with halting step. But it was not her that moved it, she could only stare through death clouded eyes as her once beautiful body began to advance out of its grave. An entity was in the body with her.

 

jūsu vājums ir mans prieks

 

Get out, get out, get out!

 

Only laughter returned her and terror gripped her as whatever this spirit was fully took control of the young mandalorian’s body. She could feel herself being torn out of it, root and stem by whatever force this dark demon possessed and then there was nothing. Death perhaps?

 

_________________________

 

The gurgle of fountains brought Rose of Sharon to her senses, the coolness of the water against her bare shins made her blink and look down. She was barefoot, wearing only the oversized shirt of her fathers that he had left behind that she had slept in since she was a child. It's hem was stretched and hung to her knees, the softness of its well worn nerf cotton embraced her slender body with its comfort and smells that filled her nostrils. Her azure coloured eyes searched around her but only found a deep and impenetrable fog. Her heart rate increased as a distinct shock and claustrophobia took over.

 

Where am I? Where is Roarroar? This sure as hell isn’t Tatooine.

 

“Those questions will be answered in time little warrior.”

 

Rose nearly jumped at the sound of the booming metallic voice that echoed from the fog behind her. She fell back into a fighting stance and nearly lost her balance as the stone patch that she seemed to be on gave way to nothing directly off it. To save herself from the fall, she hurled herself to her knees and scrabbled for purchase on the path. Every inch she went into the water, the harder it was to pull herself out. She retched and forced herself to her feet, the water’s weight bearing down on her like a tonne of bricks.

 

Who are you?

 

There was splash and the metallic voice started again.

 

“Do you not recognize the voice of your God?” And He was there standing over the face of the water, the spikes of his armour encased in a shroud of misty darkness. Beneath the half mask, a smile of a thousand teeth grinned back at her.

 

Rose wanted to move, to bow low, but she did not dare. The horror she felt emanating from Him was enough to bow her head, her eyes wide.

 

“The homeplanet beckons you little warrior. Seize the city world. Bathe our culture in blood. Enough to fill the underworld to its rafters. Unfetter the reign of death and chaos that heralds my return.”

Then there was nothing, and Rose was left utterly alone. Alone in the mists of the afterlife, and this was no sacred valhalla where warriors of the clans of Mandalore would fight for ages in a tournament of blood before the throne of Kad Ha’rangir. This was death, lonesome death, where there was no return, no glory. An endless journey, it seemed, until, not far off the path that she trudged a face appeared.

 

Not any face, but a familiar face, cracked and covered with the crystalline ice of space exposure, the snear he always wore obscured by torn and frozen skin.

 

Father!

 

Almost unbidden she quickened her pace until she was as close as she could be without leaving the path. The face turned to look at her, the eyes unfocused, but soon they shown their familiar disappointment.

 

“Rose, ever my shining star of chagrin. Surely you did not die with any accomplishment did you?”

 

I…

 

“You died a worthless death, with nothing to show for it but a string of humiliation.” His head turned smugly away, “At least I conducted myself with honour, my sacrifice assured peace in our time.”

 

Anger peaked in Rose and her former delight at seeing him fled with the dawning of a terrible rage.

 

Your sacrifice meant kriffing nothing you fool! You left me and mum completely alone to fight the Sith and died a fool's death. The Sith are back, only delayed a decade and now no one remembers your name. She spat into the water, causing the face to draw back in shock. I hate you and all that you stood for. She stripped off the shirt and threw it into the water where a storm of hands devoured it. I will destroy everything you loved old man. The Alliance, the Jedi, I have other masters now. And those orders will join you here in death.

 

“Rose, no please, Rose!”

 

She turned her back and stepped back onto the path, walking away as the blithering sobs of a broken man echoed behind her. If there was a path, she would see the end of it.

[Rose Cariadus]

The path was long and wound through the pool until it finally found its end. The tears came then, pouring down her cheeks as she climbed out of the heavy water, she wiped futilly at them and sat panting at the edge of the water until a shadow came across her. The spikes, the joyless smile, so many teeth.

 

“Do you wish to return home child?”

 

Yes please, I’ll do anything

 

A hand was placed heavily upon her bare shoulder and the sickening cold that came from it froze her heart, fear creeping in at the edges of her vision.

 

“Then return to the beginning of our people and carve a path of death and chaos for me.”

 

She swallowed the fear as it bit at her.

 

I will

 

“Then you will have to die again to be reborn. Let those you love slay you and you will awake free.”

 

The hand left her shoulder and covered her face, the dark fear surged and she knew no more. The only thing she could hear was the distant scornful laughter of a God long departed. Laughter without joy.

 

________________

 

“Silently the night crept in and changed us all. You most of all Rose of Sharon.”

 

Mother? Mother where are you?

 

Rose forced her heavy limbs to move in the language shared by the two of them, the kinetic language of Lorrd, and brought her thumb against her chin with her fingers splayed in a line away from her turned up nose.

 

Mother?

 

In the utter blackness before her two leering eyes appeared. Both jade and bloodshot from Pryodase abuse, the eyes that belonged to the only Mother she had ever had. Riding the upper and downers from Haladreshin to Conergin or hallucinogens like Pryodase, mood swings that followed every high and every low, Rose had learned to follow them and react in a way that would prop her up. She would cover for her, even working shifts at the Blenadiin Cafe to cover for her when she was too depressed or drugged to move from her bed. If there was a person that Rose held more scorn for than her Father it would be her Mother. Instead of the strength that Rose had needed after learning of his death, her mother had brought the depression from that event to the home and lived in it. Bathed in it. Using every excuse to make it about her feelings, about her depression. Never once caring for Rose. She longed for her mother’s attention, for the love that she had shown when she had been a little girl.

 

“I bet you saw him, how was he?”

 

Not a care for me at all.

 

You never cared about me at all

 

She turned her fingers into a point and extended them violently, an expression of hate and scorn in Lorrdian.

 

Go overdose in hell

 

She squeezed her eyes shut and the world lurched around her as a screaming wail filled her ears, to only end when the harsh sand of tatooine returned to her.

 

____________

 

Her body was still shambling from its grave when she returned to it, joining and sharing the body with whatever awakened spirit had possessed it. The body moved against her will, its intentions to kill the Tusken before her very apparent. This spirit was going to kill her roaroar, Kriff that.

 

“Kill me!”

 

She shouted as her body continued in its lurching heave, the dead fingers tightening around her blaster pistol. Her voice was slurred as black blood poured from her mouth.

 

“Darling please, I can't stop it.”

 

Her voice begged as the spirit that possessed her brought the blaster to bear. If Dark knew his business, there were cloning facilities on Farstrider's Rest. It could work. She didn't have to give up on this life. Not this time. Though there was a bit of irony in coming back to life to only have to die again. Kriffing spirit bullshit

 

"I'll come back I promise."

[Rose Cariadus]

“Welcome home child.”

 

Beep

 

The shrill beeping sounded distinctly medical in nature and the air had changed in her nostrils from the dark and dank tatooine air to the recycled air of a space station. It had been so sudden. A flash of a blade and she had awoken here. She slowly opened her blue eyes and stared straight into a HUD screen that appeared above her.

 

| Black Sun Criminal Syndicate Cloning services welcomes you to a new life |

 

Ah shit was this in the contract?

 

| Please accept one of the following options for payment Rose Caridius |

 

Oh what the- her mind spun as she looked at the two options.

 

| 1,000,000 Credits due immediately from a localized chequing account |

 

| Indentured servitude for no less than ten years |

I am Groots. She slowly lifted her arm to type in her access account number and selected the |OK| option.

 

|Thank you, and may you live deliciously. - Your neighbourhood Tatooine cloning Services Bureau |

 

When she sat up her eyes drifted across her naked form. No giant hole, no gaping wounds, no broken back. SHe was whole. She was new, and she had nothing but her skin. Somehow she had made it out, she was alive, and so was roarroar and she had to get back to him.

 

________________

 

 

Several hours later and several overpriced calls later a message arrives for Dark.

 

“Hey its Rose. You won't believe this but I think my last contract included a death clause to milk me out of money so I uhhh and several hundred miles above you with nothing but this comm link and a towel. Is Roarroar allright? I could use my stuff if you want to grab it.”

[Rose Cariadus]

Rose sat on the bed provided by the Black Sun’s doctors, wrapped in a rough nerf cotton towel, staring at an overpriced datapad, her eyes reading and rereading the message text from Dark. She had heard his rasping voice but had shut off the vocalizers on the datapad to simply read it, the sorrow in his voice had already told her all she needed to know. She blinked once as her eyes fell on the difficult to pronounce name of the tusken raider and she could feel her heart plummet through her chest.

 

I couldn't help him, I couldn’t save him.

 

Her breathing was more rapid now and she could feel the shivering cold of a panic attack creeping to replace her broken heart. She forced it back, using the long trained reflexes of Mandalorian warriors. Breathing, focus, calm. But the loss was futile, it was permanent, and it was breaking her. She couldn’t even give him a proper burial or recover her own armour. Her hand grasped the side of the Datapad until the tips of her fingers and knuckles were bright white and the datapad shook in her hand. She didn’t even notice that she was biting her lip until the iron like taste of blood seeped into her mouth.

 

As her vision began to fog over from uncried tears she lay the datapad aside and let them fall onto her hands that were clasping and unclasping on her towel covered lap. The warm tears flowed now and she found herself crying fiercely as the tears and snot dripped down onto the towel.

 

My Darling.

 

This was no Alliance officer knocking on the door of Habitation station 834 with his hat in his hand. There was no warning to save her, and like her mother many years ag,o she let her shoulders crumple and the sobs wracked her slim body until she was exhausted. For a soldier was not coming home and no matter how brief the encounter, she had loved him with her full heart.

 

Her reddened eyes finally blinked and she picked up her datapad to type a response to Dark.

 

“Medical Bay 4, Farstriders Rest spacestation.”