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Chandrila


Tarrian Skywalker

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The Justice emerged from hyperspace over Chandrila and Kandor had to call up the coordinates of his safehouse to make sure he knew where he was going. He hadn't actually visited since his original stay after purchasing it, though he did receive regular updates on its status from the beskar'ade that maintained the place.

 

"Not exactly my usual kind of place," he told Mirdala as the ship made its approach. The structure was a bit isolated, but it could only really be described as a manor. The layout was designed to enable a comfortable life for a socialite or wealthy heir to some fortune. There was an expansive courtyard in the center, boxed in by hallways and rooms of almost every variety, including a sizeable dining hall, ballroom, and living quarters. Not all of the rooms were fully furnished, but the detail of droids would have kept it in good shape. Really the place had only been affordable because of its location, a failed attempt by the builder to be the center of a new community which was supposed to form up around it.

 

"But that was kind of the point at the time," he explained. "Was trying to pose as someone of wealth who might have need for a bounty hunter. There was a price on the head of the mercenary dar'jetii Slicer, so I invited him here with the promise of a job. Unfortunately someone got to him before he could take me up."

 

He looked at 2277. "Keep an eye out for our guests and send them coordinates as necessary," he said, bringing the Justice in for a landing.

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An odd sense of relief flooded over Mirdala as the Justice made its approach over the tops of the Chandrilan farmlands and forests in one of the more isolated sections of the planet. The term safe "house" was apparently being applied very loosely here considering the size of the estate and the surrounding lands, it was more like a fortified country estate. One side of her mouth quirked in amusement and she glanced at Kandor as the ship settled onto one of the private landing pads. It looked exactly like the kind of place the Sivaara's would have held as an off-world retreat.

 

Gathering her things from the ship she followed Kandor into the house as she pinged Aluir, Tresha, and Trita, filling them in on the situation and sending the encoded coordinates for the safe house so they'd know where the rest of the family would be sheltering.

 

Once Kandor had given her the brief tour she brought up the manor's computer systems and began to issue orders for the household droids, ordering ample supplies, making sure there were enough beds for everyone and generally taking control of the household to ensure that everything would be ready to make the Ad'Norts (and possibly the Silvars) as comfortable as possible once they all arrived. Even though it was unlikely that all of them would be staying, she made sure that they'd at least have the essentials. Luckily, Mandalorians were used to only the necessities.

 

Finally setting her things down in the master suite, Mirdala removed her armor and sat on the edge of the bed staring out over the view of the rolling hills the second-story bedroom afforded her. The room had large windows to let in ample light and the day was pleasant enough that she opened them allowing the pleasant early summer breeze to waft in and breath new life into the house from so many years of being shut tight. It felt so good she relayed orders to the rest of the droid staff to open the windows to the other rooms as well.

 

Checking in with Kandor, she could tell from their connection via their linked implants that he was still going through a check of the house's security measures, so she signaled to him she was going to meditate for a bit if only to begin to mentally sort herself for what their next steps would be. Sitting on the balcony, she switched her implant over to standby, so anything less than an emergency channel wouldn't interrupt her as she allowed herself a measure of peace before the storm of activity that was the Ad'Norts arrived.

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Ke barjurir gar'ade, jagyc'ade kot'la a dalyc'ade kotla'shya. - "Train your sons to be strong but your daughters to be stronger."

“A Mandalorian woman's greatest talent is not her charm or beauty, but her strength of body and will.” - Mandalorian proverb

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The beskar'ade, for their part, had done a more than adequate job maintaining the manor in Fett's several-year absence. There were still things he needed to inspect himself and things that they would need for the time ahead. Truthfully, he hadn't spent many credits on the place after buying it, not having had to make use of it in favor of his other secure locations. Part of it was that he simply didn't have a taste for the location's opulence, nor any will to fully deck it out.

 

It did have some rudimentary defense systems towards which he had occasionally funneled some extra resources. Certainly enough to keep out pests, squatters, and thieves. The whole location was remote enough that a large amount of its security came through its obscurity, and it was legitimate enough that CoreSec would show up if it reported a problem. Nothing in the manor would link back to Fett in any way, and he did not use its computer banks to store any of his personal data. It was purely a place to fall back if he needed it, another lean-to in the core area.

 

Their aliit would be safe enough here.

 

His sweep complete, he made his way up to where Mirdala was meditating. The Ad'Norts had started out closer to Chandrila than Tatooine, but from the sounds of things, they would essentially be abandoning their homestead until the situation on Concord Dawn stabilized, and that took prep. They would probably be along in a few more hours.

 

Entering the room, Kandor left his buy'ce on a nearby end table and approached her, putting his hands on her shoulders and beginning to massage them and her upper back, taking in the sights. "Nice world to escape to," he said. "Don't like the manor any more than when I bought it, but it's safe and should be a welcome change for the aliit." He had questions about just what was happening on Dawn, and he was expecting a full explanation when everyone arrived. They certainly wouldn't abandon the farm for just anything.

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Mirdala hummed in pleasure as she relaxed against him, pulling his arms around her waist. "In another life, I don't think I'd mind it here too much, especially with you at my side. Circumstances aside, it'll be nice to have everyone under one roof for the first time since I can remember. But..." her voice trailed off and she turned around to face him. "The first of them won't be arriving until nightfall here and the droids can more than handle the rest of the preparations..." She brought his hand to her lips, and gently kissed his fingertips.

 

A larger part than she wanted to admit had been glad when they'd retreated to their cabin on the Justice, even with the interruption. After everything, she wasn't sure if that part of their relationship, still new to them as it was, would survive recent events. The surgical skills of Nek's wife, her own healing, and bacta

had thankfully left little outward sign of the trauma on her body, but it was hard to forget it was there on some level. The scars that Judyc had left only seemed to remain internally.

 

As he pulled her close for a kiss, before scooping her up and heading for the bed, she mentally shook herself for even worrying about such things. Kandor loved her, no matter what, and in the end that was all that mattered...

 

------------

 

By late afternoon they'd gotten the first ping from their inbound guests indicating an estimated arrival time and Mirdala looked up at Kandor from where she'd been relaxing against his chest, the two of them simply enjoying what quiet moments they could before the chaos of having a house full of guests overtook the two of them. With a reluctant sigh, Mirdala sat up and crossed over to the en suite to shower and dress before she went to check on the droid's progress.

 

One of the few luxuries Mirdala never thought she could ever truely give up was a scalding hot shower. Even though she felt at peace, the heat of the water seemed to cement the feeling further as she considered an unexpected silver lining to Judyc's action against her. He's saved her from having to worry about going into any of the upcoming fights worrying if she was pregnant. There was still so much to do, for her and Kandor both, before it would really be fair for them to even think of bringing a child into the mix. Adoption was still on the table, but could easily wait until they had a more stable situation like the one Kandor's burgeoning organization might give them.

 

Thinking about their lost son still caused her heart to ache, but the pain was not nearly as sharp or as fresh as it had been even when they'd been on Myrkr. She didn't fool herself into thinking that it would ever truly go away, merely lessen with time. The visions that Takkorel had shown her of TeVerd had clearly shown her the dangers of continuing to hold on to such loss could take. For years she'd known that the blue-haired woman in her dreams had somehow been connected to her more recent adoptive father, but never quite understood the depths of the pain he'd kept buried deep down within his very being. He'd made it his fuel and she'd felt what it had done to him when he let it out to channel it as part of what made him so deadly as a Seeker.

 

She would find a different way to harness her own pain, but she'd never let it consume her or bury it the way he had and even the way she had before she'd left Kandor and CoreSec behind the first time. He might have the luxury of centuries to burn and stew in his hate, but she didn't. Kandor was right. What they had right now was so precious to even waste a moment on hating something that couldn't be changed. It was time to move on and fight that next battle or get her team or family through their next challenge.

 

Stepping from the shower, she toweled off before wrapping it around her and braiding her hair once she'd squeezed out the excess water. She opted to leave it down instead of pinning it up the way she usually did, so the long braid hung midway down her back. Changing into a pair of pants and a button down shirt, she pulled on her boots and gave Kandor a quick kiss before disappearing downstairs to start the meal with the supplies the droids had procured earlier that day.

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Ke barjurir gar'ade, jagyc'ade kot'la a dalyc'ade kotla'shya. - "Train your sons to be strong but your daughters to be stronger."

“A Mandalorian woman's greatest talent is not her charm or beauty, but her strength of body and will.” - Mandalorian proverb

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Totally relaxed, Kandor stood on the balcony and looked out at the landscape around the manor, lingering for a moment after Mirdala headed downstairs. He got a glimpse of the mirrored perspective he had compared to the last time he was here. He'd already been Moon Knight when he'd purchased this place, but so much else had changed. Back then he'd basically traveled the oyu'baat training and looking for fights... and that had been it. He'd been lonely without ever knowing it. Now, not only was he married, but everything that wasn't spending time with her seemed more a responsibility than a purpose.

 

Still, it was responsibility that drove him forward. Mirdala hadn't dulled his drive to do the right thing and fight the important fights. He looked at the work before them and welcomed the challenge. Just as in his many years of solo work, he'd always preferred to be gainfully employed, so too in his married life did he know that their best selves and their best relationship would only come about through varied and difficult circumstances.

 

Cleaning up and dressing -- eschewing his beskar'gam for now in favor of military-style trousers and a plain black shirt -- Kandor Fett headed downstairs to make sure they were ready for their guests.

 

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The first ship of Ad'Norts was descending toward the hangar and Kandor and Mirdala went out to meet them. The aliit would be arriving in multiple vessels due to their varied locations, but all would be arriving within about a ninety minute window, the end of which they were targeting to have a family dinner.

 

The first wave were Taen, the Sector Protector and biological son of Hwulf whose spirit Fett had just met; Taen's Kiffari wife Reska; and two of their three ade, the twin girls Edra and Elesha, who were about seven. Their other daughter, Trita, would be arriving later. As Kandor greeted them and helped grab some of their bags, he got an immediate read on them and started to understand how bad things had gotten. Taen was showing obvious signs of stress, but Reska actually had a series of scrapes and bruises, including some bandaging.

 

Kandor met Taen's eye. "Me'bana?" he asked, his voice a bit hard, though he suspected he knew. Taen wouldn't have liked the idea of fleeing their home to hide offworld any more than he did, but when it came to their wives' lives being in real danger, hadn't Fett already proven his willingness to whisk Mirdala off to Hapes or Corellia to play things safe? Good operational sense had to beat stubbornness in situations like these.

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Picking up on the tone of the conversation, Mirdala took each of the two girls by the hands and exclaimed. "I bet you two are eager to see where you'll be staying aren't you? Race you!" The two girls looked towards their father, who nodded his permission and felt the safety the adults were emanating in their shared family bond. Vi'ika and Mirdala dashed off towards the house, not quite at a full run with the twins trailing behind before they disappeared into the large house.

 

It was only after they disappeared that Reska, not Taen spoke. "It was an ambush that targeted my patrol, specifically, a mix of other JP's but mostly citizens fearful of Taen's supposed corruption and the rumors being spread that Morveth's death went unanswered. Those that aren't holing themselves into their homesteads until this all blows over, which is a good chunk of Dawn's population, are merely taking advantage of the the chaos these hut'unne are causing. Some of them have even been convinced to join in against Taen's leadership."

 

Taen gave a low growl, "They attacked her because they couldn't get to me. It would have only been a matter of time they picked either the girls or another member of my clan that wasn't as capable of fighting back. They are getting bolder." His facial markings were bright against his lighter-colored tan fur that was the exact color of his father's. Kandor hadn't seen Taen's before but knew enough from his time among the Omicrons that it often indicated great agitation. "I...have opted to step down from leadership since there is little faith in my ability." He didn't elaborate further but grew silent as the trio of adults made it to the house. "Forgive me. I don't like feeling useless. Thank you for opening your home to us. We are in your debt."

 

----------

 

"This place is so big, ba'vodu!" Edra exclaimed as they entered the hall. "Why would anyone need so much space to keep clean?"

 

Mirdala laughed and ruffled the girl's hair. "It serves its purposes. Like when we decide to take a clan vacation together, we can all stay under one roof. What say we find your room?"

 

"We're not stupid," Elesha crossed her arms as Mirdala led them through the house to the opposite wing from where she and Kandor were staying. "This isn't a vacation. They attacked mama and now we're here."

 

"You're right, Ele'ika," Mirdala admitted, placing her hands on the girl's shoulders and meeting her green eyes. Hwulf's eyes, she thought, before speaking to both girls. "Things are dangrous right now for both of our families, so your father thought it best to get all of you off-world. Just like mine did." She winced, not knowing how many of the Ad'Norts, if any knew TeVerd was living. Strill's about to be on the hunt anyway, she mentally shrugged.

 

"Papa said he'd died a long time ago." Edra turned, crossing her arms identically to her sister. "And that Uncle TeVerd died with Ba'buir months ago."

 

"We felt it. We knew." Elesha was quick to point out, her signature shifting back towards sadness.

 

Mirdala gathered them both in her arms and held them for a bit, blanketing them in calm and warmth just like TeVerd had so often done to her when she was their age and scared. "Uncle Hwulf died protecting his team," she began quietly. "TeVerd...through some miracle of the Manda survived...so he could make those people regret ever targeting us. And we did. Somehow he and I found one another and together we put an end to the people that took Hwulf from all of us.

 

"Sometimes," she sighed pulling back from the twins, not quite sure it was her place to be explaining this to the girls. A subtle nudge from both Taen and Reska told Mirdala they understood, so she continued," sometimes bad people like to make friends, dangrous friends so they can try to stack the odds in their favor. TeVerd, Kandor, and I are not done with finding their friends. Until we do, all of us want to make sure that you stay safe. Understand?"

 

The two of them exchanged a look but ultimately nodded in unison and let her take them the rest of the way to get settled.

 

-------

 

Over the next hour Trita and Tresha arrived together, followed by Aluir's ship. The last to arrive was TeVerd and the rest of the Ad'Norts - Laesha, Hwulf's Arkaanan wife; Vannae, the oldest daughter who was a clone of Laesha's late sister; Tannae, her husband Styl, and their three-month-old infant son Jorad; and Valyin, the youngest of the Ad'Nort siblings and a hunter in her own right like her older sister Tresha.

 

After giving everyone a chance to get settled, Mirdala called everyone to the dining hall and the droids began to serve dinner, and despite the circumstances, everyone was genuinely glad to be together again.

 

About midway through the meal, Mirdala slipped her hand into Kandor's beneath the table and smiled at him. I think you should tell them our good news, she transmitted through their implant channel. Especially since much of this gathering wouldn't have been possible without you.

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Ke barjurir gar'ade, jagyc'ade kot'la a dalyc'ade kotla'shya. - "Train your sons to be strong but your daughters to be stronger."

“A Mandalorian woman's greatest talent is not her charm or beauty, but her strength of body and will.” - Mandalorian proverb

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The Protectors lost a good man in Taen Ad'Nort, and Kandor could see his frustration. It was an unfortunate side-effect of such times as these, however. While Fett believed in Taen's competence and character due to their time working together on Concord Dawn, the truth was that several of his closest advisors had successfully deceived him and fed information to the enemy under his watch. It was the correct decision to step down, especially given the danger to his aliit, whether or not another man could have prevented what had happened.

 

Kandor helped them move in and as more of the aliit arrived, his mood lightened somewhat. They were a boisterous lot when all brought together, and it was an event that was uncommon enough that he could tell everyone was glad to have a place to catch up where they didn't always have to be looking over their shoulders. He found himself sitting between Mirdala and Tresha as they dug into the skraan his wife and the beskar'ade had prepared, and he made some light conversation with the latter. Tresha, a human beroya just a bit younger than Kandor and adopted into the Ad'Nort clan, in many ways formed a mental bridge between him and the rest of the aliit just as well as Mirdala did, and he found her commentary on some of their antics both amusing and illuminating.

 

When he felt Mirdala squeeze his hand and her words popped into his kovid, he nodded at her and took a moment to think about what he was going to say, then stood to get everyone's attention. He looked from TeVerd at one end of the large table all the way down to Laesha at the other, his eyes briefly meeting everyone else's along the way. Fourteen in all, it was an impressive crowd.

 

When the conversation died down a bit, he spoke. "Now that we're all here, I just wanted to welcome everyone formally. I hope you can forgive the opulence of your surroundings," he said with a smirk, gesturing around him at the distinctly un-Mandalorian furnishings, "but I am glad I've held onto the place all these years if it can be of any use to this aliit." He paused, then smiled, pulling his wife to her feet next to him by the hand and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "That is, my aliit. Mirdala and I got married a few weeks ago."

 

A chorus of "Wayii!" and "Kandosii!" and "Oya!" broke out around the table and Kandor kissed Mirdala on the cheek before sitting back down, his smile widening into a grin.

 

Across the table, Edra excitedly turned to her mother. "Does this mean we get more baby cousins to play with?" she asked, barely able to contain herself.

 

"Because that would be amazing!" Elesha added, clapping her hands and looking at Kandor and Mirdala.

 

Kandor's grin broke for a second and he glanced at Mirdala. The table quieted immediately as the empaths in the family looked at her, and he winced slightly knowing that she'd been caught offguard and broadcast her initial reaction. The twins didn't fail to pick up on it either, it seemed, and Elesha recoiled slightly.

 

"It's okay, ad'ika," Kandor assured the seven year old as he grabbed Mirdala's hand again under the table. "Some questions just don't have easy answers." He would let Mirdala decide what she wanted to say on the matter.

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The happy expression on Mirdala's face only slightly faltered, though her empathic reaction had been much harder to control. She hadn't expected that particular question to come at them so soon and had hardly expected the source. At the opposite end of the table, baby Jorad began to fuss slightly as his mother tried to comfort him.

 

Mirdala turned to look at Vi'ika, her raven-furred sand hound who shared the same kind of empathic bond as she did with the majority of the Ad'Nort family, and nodded. The large canine padded over to the end of the table where Tannae and her child was, and the little one instantly settled back down as Vi'ika's natural empathic shielding ability helped shut out the rest of the family's (particularly Mirdala's) empathic spikes.

 

"I know you didn't mean anything by it, Ed'ika," Mirdala said after a few heartbeats of silence. Her hand tightened around Kandor's as she somehow found the inner strength to project enough calmness to reassure the younger members of the family that they hadn't done any harm with their questions. Mirdala knew that the only ones that were aware of her encounter with the man who'd raised Kandor were sitting on either side of her. There was no way any of the Ad'Norts would have known to avoid that particular emotional land mine.

 

"Remember our discussion earlier about TeVerd, Kandor, and I hunting down the others in order to protect this family?" The twins looked uncertainly from one to the other but nodded in unison. "It's...a bit hard...to think about taking on the responsibility of a baby when we still have much work to do to ensure the family that's already here is safe and secure. Does that make sense?"

 

Again, they nodded in unison, and Mirdala managed enough of a smile to prompt the rest of the adults to return to their meals.

 

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After dinner was another matter entirely as Tresha and Laesha followed Mirdala out into the garden area as the household droids busied themselves with the clean up. The Chandrilan night was peaceful and there were intermittent flashes of purple light from the planet's native version of a lampbug. For her part, Mirdala didn't try to avoid the two of them, knowing that this conversation was going to happen sooner or later, especially with Tresha having been able to feel the emotional spike during dinner.

 

"There's something you're not telling us, Dika," Laesha probed gently. "Did you and Kandor recently loose one?"

 

Mirdala looked down at the paved walkway as she sat in one of the benches that dotted the garden area and didn't immediately answer her aunt. She inhaled deeply and let it out before she lifted her eyes and answered. "You could say that..."

 

Tresha sat next to her and put her arm over Mirdala's shoulders. "What do you mean?"

 

"One of the things I've been working on while we've been fighting as been building my own abilities within the Force. I recently underwent some fairly intensive training from an old Jetii friend that I trusted. I've been having these...visions lately...and one night Kandor and I shared one and saw our son..." She shook her head, trying to dispell the sudden memory of the vision that came to the front of her mind. "There was no indication that I was actually pregnant this soon in our marriage. There were some other...complications to Kandor and I taking that step sooner..."

 

Laesha looked from her niece to her daughter for any indication of what Mirdala meant. "What happened, Mird'ika? If you can't tell me as your aunt, maybe as a medical professional?"

 

Mirdala sniffed slightly and sat up to look her aunt directly in the eye. "It's fine. Years ago...I was taken by some slavers as vengeance for some CoreSec action. I was tortured, beaten, and assaulted. That left...scars on more than my physical body. My first marriage had led to me having trust issues when it came to relationships in general. Deciding to marry Kandor got me past those final hurdles. A few weeks ago, not long after the two of us married actually, one of our enemy's caught up with us and...," her hand subconsciously went to her lower abdomen," saw to it that the damage the slavers had begun was rendered permanent. It was medically confirmed as highly improbable by Nek, who was part of the surgical team that treated me after. A knife to the womb is a pretty permanent way to ensure someone doesn't have children." As she spoke, her voice grew hard and she felt the anger return.

 

She took a moment and closed her eyes, running through the calming techniques she'd learned from Kirlocca.

 

"Mirdala, did you know where Hwulf and I first met?" Laesha said, trying to change the subject slightly and offer what she could to Mirdala. It didn't take an empath to see that the younger woman was still hurting from the loss. "Arkaanan Micro, I was one of the cloners assigned to his project. It's been a while b-"

 

Mirdala was already shaking her head. "I appreciate what you're trying to offer Aunt Laesha, but it's the carrying that's the issue, I think. It's just odd to mourn something that you didn't realize you wanted. I just wanted something normal for once."

 

"You shouldn't give up hope, Dika." Tresha said firmly. "Nek said ‘improbable’ but not ‘impossible’, right, so there’s still hope.”

 

"There's hope and then there's facing reality, Tresh." Mirdala said wearily. "We've both got too much going on to even think about it right now anyway. It's not like either of us is opposed to adopting...it's just something neither of us can afford the energy to think about right now. To be honest," even as she began the words sounded hollow in her ears, "it's actually a bit of a relief to not have to worry about going into battle and not knowing I was pregnant. This fight is long from over and we'd rather see it through before we worry about anything else."

 

Laesha looked at her with a mixture of sadness and admiration for how strong her niece had become. Tresha enveloped her in a hug as the two women rose from the bench.

 

"Let's get back to things shall we?" Mirdala said stepping away from her equally dark-haired cousin. "Something tells me that Kandor hasn't heard the legends yet. It's about time he was properly inducted into this family, huh?" The mischievous sparkle had returned to her eye, though the pain was still present further back in her gaze.

 

"I'll get the fire ready then," Tresha promised before giving Mirdala one last squeeze.

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Ke barjurir gar'ade, jagyc'ade kot'la a dalyc'ade kotla'shya. - "Train your sons to be strong but your daughters to be stronger."

“A Mandalorian woman's greatest talent is not her charm or beauty, but her strength of body and will.” - Mandalorian proverb

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While Mirdala headed off with Laesha and Tresha, Kandor started to do a lap around the manor's interior hallways with Taen and TeVerd.

 

"You told me about her ordeal on Tatooine," Taen was saying. "Complications from that?"

 

"And a more recent event," Kandor answered. "Really we're doing fine. Question just caught us offguard."

 

Taen nodded in acceptance. TeVerd knew that they'd been working through it, and had had said what he'd needed to say on Talus.

 

Fett changed the subject. "What else is happening on Concord Dawn? Anyone we should be looking out for?"

 

"Ab'ki got her claws into a lot of people," TeVerd answered, not bothering to conceal his disdain. "Going to take time to hunt them all down."

 

"Anyone close to Mirdala?" Fett asked.

 

Taen shrugged. "Caelix Trammel was one of her instructors during her JP training," he said. "Weapons master, one of the best. Mirdala never got along too well with her. But she was also the one who cleaned up the incident with Ca all those years ago."

 

"Explains how that jetii'kad ended up on Hoth after its supposed destruction," Kandor observed. "Trammel still missing?"

 

"For now," TeVerd said.

 

Fett remembered the vision of how the Seeker had fought that Kyr'tsad turncoat he'd witnessed in the Temple of the Moon. He knew that same anger was burning within TeVerd for Trammel and her ilk. Frankly Kandor didn't blame him one bit. These men and women were aruetiise, traitors to their own people. He'd been motivated by credits to take jobs before, but they had traded their very souls for money. He'd stood against their kind himself on Manda'yaim, and now Jurgen Bialle and Viba too had fallen. It was grisly work but it was necessary, and there was a lot more to be done. "No leads on Ab'ki yet, I take it? Any activity from the cult she and Ca used?"

 

"Not since they were routed by the Protectors," TeVerd answered. "Since Hoth was a dud there's no confirmation that they still exist."

 

Shadows and sleeper agents made for difficult enemies. Every individual and lead had to be pursued carefully with no knowledge of who else might not be trustworthy. The only way to really make Concord Dawn safe again was to cut off the head of the snake. Hopefully they would have some results from Viba's data within the next few days.

 

Kandor's implant signaled that he had a message from Mirdala. "Seems like we have somewhere to be," he said to the others and started heading down towards the courtyard.

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((Suggested listening))

 

Mirdala greeted them as the three men joined the rest of the assembled family. TeVerd surveyed the roaring fire and eyed his daughter, knowing fully what she was up to.

 

She’d just settled down on a bench next to Kandor when TeVered approached Mirdala and gestured for her to follow him. She cast a confused look at Kandor, but followed her father a short distance away. The two of them conversed shortly, Mirdala nodding her agreement to something TeVerd had said. The Ageless rested his forehead briefly against hers before returning to the spot she’d just vacated next to Kandor.

 

The rest of the family had also settled around the fire, the twins were working on not burning the mallow roots while Jorad rested in his father’s arms. The Chandrilan moons were high in the sky and the night seemed utterly still, but for the activity around the house. Aluir and Tresha had returned from their ships bearing a pair of bes’beve and a drum, settling in next to one another as Mirdala waved Taen, Vannae, and Tannae over.

 

The cousins whispered conspiratorially amongst themselves for a few moments before Tresha brought the flute to bear and began to play as Aluir pounded the drum with Tannae joining in intermittently for harmony.

 

Vannae tossed another log on to the brightly burning fire, causing sparks to shoot up into the night sky as she began, "Long in the first days, when the Immortals walked the land amongst their children, they created the test of mortals called War. And many of their children fell, trying to serve the goals of one tribe or another. But there were some who chose to join no tribe, and serve no cause. The Immortals saw this and asked"

 

"Why have you you not chosen sides to take our Test?" thundered out Taen's voice, as the shadows cast by the dancing light of the fire playing up the dark marks on his cheeks even more as he pointed accusingly at much smaller figure of Mirdala.

 

"And the Unchosen would answer…” Vannae’s voice narrated as she walked around behind the ring of family as she wove the same story that had been told during the first gathering of the Ad’Goran and Ad’Nort families all those years ago on Shogun.

 

"Because the needs of these tribes do not reflect ours,” Mirdala swept her arm wide in a dramatic gesture that encompassed those gathered around the circle of the fire, ”so we see no need to help them. We will not take the Test if it does not serve our needs, too."

 

"The Immortals thundered and roared at the impudence, and said unto them,” Vannae’s voice had grown mystically quiet as she continued to weave the spell of the ancient story.

 

Taen stood over Mirdala, glowering over her as he demanded. "You must take the Test, whether or not you agree with these tribes."

 

"The unchosen considered this and decided to make the existence of the test itself fulfill their needs. They went amongst the tribes and said to them…" Vannae gestured to Mirdala who appeared to indeed be considering a way around the issue.

 

Finally a smirk crossed Mirdala's face and she replied, meeting Taen’s glower with one of her own. "I will name a price on my skills and my life. If you meet it, I will serve alongside you...for a time."

 

"And so it passed that the Unchosen found themselves able to serve with all the tribes, in their stages. And the Unchosen became known for their clever use of the Test to suit themselves. As the Test continued, the Unchosen passed their ethos down to the willing, and to this day, there are those who make the Immortals test their game, holding honor to any side in the Test only so long as it meets their price. And the Immortals allow this, because they have forced the Unchosen to take the Test, if only in their own way.” Vannae concluded.

 

TeVerd rose and addressed the Ad’Nort clan as the music stopped, “The Test has tried us all, and will test those who come next,” he looked meaningfully at the twins and younger Ad’Norts, “Our strength is our family and we remember those that are not among us as we welcome those that are new faces. This is a time to treasure, the calm between the tests. It is where we strengthen one another and remember who we are. I am proud to have counted Hwulf Nort as my brother. He would be proud of you all.”

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Ke barjurir gar'ade, jagyc'ade kot'la a dalyc'ade kotla'shya. - "Train your sons to be strong but your daughters to be stronger."

“A Mandalorian woman's greatest talent is not her charm or beauty, but her strength of body and will.” - Mandalorian proverb

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Kandor watched the proceedings and allowed himself to be caught up in them. The tale had to be ancient -- even older than the Moon Knights. And yet it had endured over tens of thousands of years through oral tradition, and marked a key aspect of Mandalorian heritage. How many times had it been performed like this around the campfires of their ancestors, all the way back to the Taung on what would someday come to be known as Coruscant? Though Fett usually kept his eyes fixed on the future, deciding what it was that he wanted to be and making it happen through hard work, the blueprints of how he built those goals, the culture he deeply identified with even after many years apart from them, was revealed by the past. How could he hold the title of Mand'alor in good conscience if he had no respect for his roots?

 

Perhaps this was the first time the story had ever been performed on Chandrila in all that history. But the world was not important. Where the aliit went and for whatever reason they did so, that place was a slice of Manda'yaim.

 

-----------------------------

 

That night, a dream visited him.

 

He stood over a topographical hologram of a battlefield. On one side, marked with blue icons, stood a small force in a valley. The other, there was an approaching swarm of red icons, more numerous, some in the air and some on the ground. Fett looked up at the man who was giving the briefing. Aerodas Sentrant, a tall bald man in white armor, the crescent moon symbol upon his chest. A Moon Knight millennia gone.

 

"Tonight we hold the valley," Sentrant was saying.

 

One of the other officers in the room nodded. "We can funnel them through the pass here," he said, pointing at a natural chokepoint. "But it won't keep their air support from bypassing us and flanking."

 

Sentrant passed his finger along the sides of the narrow canyon. "We'll take to the caves if we have to, just like the Mytolans did in 1244. They seem more intent on engaging us and wiping us out than bypassing us, which gives us the advantage."

 

"They could pin us there for days," another individual said. Kandor thought his name was Matthias, but these were extremely old memories.

 

"The Eighth Division is already on its way. Even if we have to hold for a week on emergency rations we'll persist," the Moon Knight said.

 

Suddenly a man came rushing in from outside the prefabricated ops center where they were meeting. "Sir! We just received word that the Temple of Ostanbulis has fallen!"

 

"What?" Sentrant asked as a wave of shock rolled through the gathered officers. "That place is sacred! How did they even get there?" Suddenly he realized what had happened. The enemy must have been waiting to pounce as soon as the Eighth had pulled out of Meletias. He swallowed. Losing the Temple would deal a deadly blow to the morale of the defenders. This wasn't going to end well for any of them.

 

Fett caught a glimpse of blue behind the messenger and saw Allis Hett, his new Moon Knight interpreter, behind him. She caught his eye, nodded once, and the dream ended.

 

-----------------------------

 

Kandor woke up pondering the lesson from the past even as he realized it was still the early hours of the morning. He immediately noticed that, despite the hour, Mirdala was not beside him. He got up, pinging her implant to see if she would echo back her location. She did and he headed that way, wondering what was going on.

 

He found his way off down the darkened hallway until he saw Mirdala's figure slowly walking down it, her voice quietly humming a tune he recognized as Vode An. Wrapped in her arms was the small form of the child, Jorad. Kandor quietly approached her to walk beside her, putting his hand on her shoulder opposite the dozing ik'aad and looking down at his tiny nephew, a sense of what he could only describe as aay'han settling upon him. It seemed that Jorad had come into the oyu'baat in tumultuous times, but to Kandor for a moment it all seemed so far away.

 

So as not to disturb the infant, he spoke over their implants. "Hard not to think about if things were different."

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Mirdala nodded, Styl looked so exhausted, plus...I could feel Jorad. It's very raw base emotions, but all of this has been very upsetting to him. I figured I'd relieve his dad for a bit so he and Tannae could get some decent rest. The old songs seem to help, but I think he's hungry. What's got you awake at this hour?

 

She led him into one of the main living areas in the downstairs part of the house so that if the infant rousted he wouldn't wake the rest of the family. Vi'ika wasn't far behind them. Leading the way into the kitchen she retrieved one of the bottles that Styl had mentioned they'd stored the cooling unit and placed it in the warming unit as the child stirred again before beginning to cry loudly.

 

He's not happy he can smell food and it's not in his tummy, apparently, she laughed slightly at his wrinkled face as she jostled him and began pacing while the bottle warmed. She'd been there for Tannae, Valyin, and Trita's infancies so she just fell into what she remembered from those times she was helping out her aunt, so much so that the actions weren't even conscious. In some ways, she was glad because even though helping with Jorad was something she was glad to do to help out her cousin, it wasn't something she wanted to examine too closely. The only reason she knew the child as well as she did was because she'd been the anchor point during his birth for both mother and son.

 

Suddenly a thought crossed her mind as the warmer chimed softly. Distracted for a moment, she tested the liquid by flipping the bottle in one hand and letting a few drops fall to the inside of her wrist. It was fine to give to the baby, so she repeated the motion and placed the bottle in the child's mouth. His shrieking had grown louder and he didn't seem to realize that food was close at hand, he only had to close his mouth and drink. Mirdala shook her head and wiggled the bottle in his mouth enough to get his attention and it wasn't a few seconds longer that his cries were replaced by the soft sounds of him eating.

 

Finally able to return to her thoughts, Mirdala looked up at her husband wondering what was going through his mind and how seeing her like this might affect him or his worrying about her. "You don't have to stay if you don't want to. I've got him. I've done this before with his mother, aunt, and cousin. I'm fine, I promise."

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Ke barjurir gar'ade, jagyc'ade kot'la a dalyc'ade kotla'shya. - "Train your sons to be strong but your daughters to be stronger."

“A Mandalorian woman's greatest talent is not her charm or beauty, but her strength of body and will.” - Mandalorian proverb

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Kandor nodded at his wife. He appreciated the compassion she'd taken on her cousin and Styl. Now that he had determined nothing was actually amiss, he began to head back towards their room, still finding his surroundings unfamiliar especially in the darkness.

 

He paused after a few steps. "Moon Knight visions are back as promised." He formed the words subvocally. "They're just as cryptic as ever, of course, but it still feels right."

 

Aerodas Sentrant had been one of very few Moon Knights who had served as a military commander while also bearing the mantle. He'd died in the very battle that he'd been planning in the dream. They'd taken to the caves as he'd suggested, and there'd been a good fight, but the Eighth Division had turned back at the news of the Temple's destruction and hadn't arrived to relieve them. The locals had since forgotten the tale, since Sentrant's enemies had swept through and conquered the whole area, in no small part due to the loss of morale suffered when the Temple was destroyed. It had been something of a turning point in the war. It was a stinging defeat that Allis had brought to Kandor on his first night since his visit to Tatooine, and one that had come about partially due to Sentrant's lack of foresight.

 

Kandor couldn't tell if the lesson was for something that was happening now or something still to come. He returned to bed and decided that he would pick his next moves carefully. He had to decide which things were truly the most important and weigh the risks to which they might be exposed before striking out from Chandrila.

 

Eventually he dozed back off to sleep.

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Tresha, Trita, Aluir, and Valyin left sometime mid-afternoon the following day, returning to their own careers as bounty hunters and roles in supporting the family, but the rest of the family spent the next few days settling into a routine around the house.

 

The soil that Kandor had was apparently quite good and Styl had asked about starting a small farm on a bit of the surrounding land. It made practical sense if the land was going to be inhabited for an indefinite amount of time, so he and Kandor started laying out the plans. Mirdala and TeVerd had taken the twins out for some hunt-and-evade target practice with the pepper oil rounds, an activity Mirdala told Kandor she remembered well from her own upbringing.

 

The others primarily kept about the house, with Taen and Reska mainly keeping to themselves. He'd taken being forced to step down from his position rather hard and had remained pretty tight-lipped about it and locked-down empathically from the rest of the family, only coming down for family interactions during meals.

 

It was after the evening meal on the third night that Mirdala pinged Kandor via their implant. I've never seen him like this. Any ideas?

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Ke barjurir gar'ade, jagyc'ade kot'la a dalyc'ade kotla'shya. - "Train your sons to be strong but your daughters to be stronger."

“A Mandalorian woman's greatest talent is not her charm or beauty, but her strength of body and will.” - Mandalorian proverb

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"I'll try my hand at feeling him out," Kandor replied. He didn't have to know Taen that well to realize how much he had withdrawn. The end of a career that was his life's work was a fairly major deal, but he still had a lot of years ahead of him, especially being half Ageless. Fett couldn't really speculate as to what the man's expected lifespan would be, but there was no question that this was just the end of a chapter of his life. Somehow he doubted his next occupation would be farming. It seemed that Kandor ended up being reminded that his adopted clan name meant "farmer" every time he spent more than a few days on Concord Dawn or apparently even just with people from Concord Dawn. While it was an honorable profession and he didn't mind the simple work, he and Taen were trained and capable to make a difference in more hazardous positions.

 

As soon as the cleanup following dinner was done, Taen started to make his retreat, but Kandor casually but tactically intercepted him. "Mind sticking around for a minute?" he asked. This sort of thing wasn't really his strong suit, but it was worth a shot. He indicated a nearby sitting area and headed towards it. "I was wondering if you'd given any thought as to what sort of work you might be getting into after all of this."

 

He wasn't really prepared to give a sales pitch for a future organization that didn't even have a name yet, but he'd already started cultivating his contacts and someone with Taen's skillset would be invaluable -- the kind of skillset that could keep the organization from floundering and failing. "I might actually have an opportunity."

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Taen shrugged, not particularly inclined to have this conversation, but Kandor had proven honorable in the past and the man was family now, after all. "Mirdala put you up to this didn't she?" He looked around Kandor to the smaller woman still seated at the table talking engine mechanics with Vannae. Mirdala returned his gaze undaunted, with a look that implied So what if I did?

 

Remembering how he'd intervened in her own life after the death of her parents to bring her out from under her grandmother's restrictive coddling, he figured he was karmically due some meddling from the young woman. Shaking his head he motioned for Kandor to follow him out into the evening air. "I always said that runt was more trouble than she was worth," despite the words, there was an undercurrent of familial ribbing that indicated to Kandor he meant no slight against the man's wife.

 

"I'll hear you out, but I make no promises. Don't think you can talk me into joining up with CoreSec, our kind don't work well with that invasive level of oversight. Surprised Mirdala lasted as long as she did. You might have noticed how strong-willed she can be."

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Ke barjurir gar'ade, jagyc'ade kot'la a dalyc'ade kotla'shya. - "Train your sons to be strong but your daughters to be stronger."

“A Mandalorian woman's greatest talent is not her charm or beauty, but her strength of body and will.” - Mandalorian proverb

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Kandor shrugged at Taen's implication of Mirdala. There was no need to adopt pretenses here.

 

"Don't worry, never really fit in with CoreSec myself," he said as they headed outside. "The regs and the oversight get in the way of doing actual good."

 

Fett played around with his next few words in his head. "Which is why I'm primarily self-employed from here on out." He paused again. "Collected on some big-time bounties back in the day to provide the startup costs, and Mirdala and I inherited a very secure space station at the end of the war.

 

"Thinking about going into business. Contacts, information trade, on-the-level bounties, and vigilantism," he explained. Might as well throw it out there. It was always difficult to know how someone would respond to the idea of vigilantism, given that it was simultaneously illegal in most jurisdictions and also one of the least restrictive ways to do what law enforcement was trying to accomplish. "Credits might not be too good at first, but I need partners I can trust with skills like yours. I have good ties to CoreSec -- both CoreSec as in Core Worlds Security and CorSec as in Corellian Security, as well as the JPs and the jetiise. But we'd have total autonomy."

 

He still wasn't sure how it would all play out. He'd rather have a small group of individuals he could trust to bring value to all parts of the operation. But eventually the information trade would require a bunch of paid employees, which would lead to an organizational hierarchy. All things to deal with as they came, he supposed. He was no administrator -- he could lead, but he did so from the battlefield.

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Taen looked at his new cousin-in-law and raised an eyebrow. "Sounds decent enough. For now, though, I think I'll spend some long overdue time with my family while we think about what the next move is for us. I hope all of this eventually blows over and we can return home without me worrying about Reska facing another ambush. Hell, she might decide to go back on her own..." The Arkaanan-Ageless hybrid sighed, looking out over the land to the west of the house where Styl had begun to turn the soil. "Don't let this fool you Kandor," he said suddenly.

 

"There's something greater to all of this - the moles, discrediting me. Most folks on Dawn are just holed up in their own steads, content to let the JP's dismantle themselves with the in-fighting. Even Briia's stepped back to defend the Silvar land since Bault was killed a few weeks back. That kid...Aliise, I think it was, has been helping her so it's not just her alone. This Ab'ki, or whoever is behind all this, it won't go well for her once we get a hold of her. Any leads on that?"

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Ke barjurir gar'ade, jagyc'ade kot'la a dalyc'ade kotla'shya. - "Train your sons to be strong but your daughters to be stronger."

“A Mandalorian woman's greatest talent is not her charm or beauty, but her strength of body and will.” - Mandalorian proverb

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"Ab'ki's been planning this for over a decade, and she's proven to be methodical," Kandor said. "I don't have any doubt what is happening to you and your riduur is any less a part it than what she is doing to me and mine."

 

He paused. "Mirdala recently experienced a short captivity at the hands of a Kyr'tsad beroya named Viba," he explained. "Took him down, grabbed a bunch of his data, and evidence suggests he was ranked high in Ab'ki's organization. Any hour or day now the team will break the encryption and with any luck we'll have that lead."

 

Fett's implant came to life as it received an incoming call from 2277. "About that, Master," the beskar'ad said. "The relevant data is beginning to trickle in now to the Justice over the team's encrypted channel in small untraceable packets. The size of the transmission is indicated by the packet headers; it will be a few minutes before it concludes. I believe you will find that it is painting a clear picture, however."

 

Kandor refocused on Taen, his eyes having drifted off to the landscape as he listened to 2277's words. "In fact the data's starting to come in now. Let's convene in Ops... and Reska might want to be a part of this," he said. He flipped his implant to connect to Mirdala's. "Mird'ika, Viba's data is coming in. Please find TeVerd and meet me in Ops."

 

Manors didn't come with an Operations Center, exactly, but Kandor had quickly repurposed and enhanced an office connected to the building's small security center when he'd bought the place. It would be a good place to review the data, get on comms with the Omicrons, and figure out their next move.

 

He was more than ready to start figuring out how to put an end to all of this.

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Taen nodded gravely. "The more 'recent event' I wager."

 

Kandor's slight nod before inclining his head to receive his droid's transmission told him all he needed to know.

 

-----

 

Mirdala, TeVerd, and Reska were waiting in the Ops Center when Kandor and Taen walked in. When the Ageless hybrid regarded Mirdala for a moment after settling down beside his wife next to one of the display panels.

 

Mirdala had endured much in her young life, far more than most ever would, even at his age or in his own lifetime, yet here she was, standing with them ready to jump headlong into the next battle. He’d never admit it to the young woman, but she had deserved to be the one that kicked him in the shebse and get him to stop feeling so sorry for himself.

 

For her part, Mirdala’s expression was one of carefully restrained neutrality. Her stomach still involuntarily twisted at the mention of Viba’s name, but she was getting better at letting it get beyond that. “Might as well see what Vy'ika and the others dug up…” she said quietly, inclining her head towards her husband, indicating that he should take lead on this one.

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Ke barjurir gar'ade, jagyc'ade kot'la a dalyc'ade kotla'shya. - "Train your sons to be strong but your daughters to be stronger."

“A Mandalorian woman's greatest talent is not her charm or beauty, but her strength of body and will.” - Mandalorian proverb

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Fett nodded at Mirdala. He doubted the Omicrons would be sending anything if it amounted to nothing, much less data of the volume that was now being received and rerouted via the Justice. They were about to get some answers, now about six months since he'd been brought onto the team. But though for him the data seemed a long time coming, for his wife this search had spanned nearly half her life, even if they hadn't even known the name "Ab'ki" until recently.

 

Even now the data continued to pour in, and 2277 added his statistical analysis graphically to the holofeed they put up on the display in the center of the room. It was credit flows. Locations. Ships. People. A vast network of mercenaries, beroyase, corrupt cops and politicians. Analysis of the Mandalore Sector. Hyperspace routes. A topographical map of the area surrounding the city of Dawn. Another for Keldabe. More for other major cities. More and more credit flows -- all holding together the huge network of people. Then the data got more specific. Time frames. Command structure. Judyc Viba as some sort of General, part of the very top echelons of the chain of command.

 

"I'll be damned," Taen said.

 

"These are--" Kandor started.

 

TeVerd finished, his voice deadly. "Invasion plans. Ab'ki is building an army to attack the Mandalore Sector."

 

Fett continued to watch the data. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers for hire from across the galaxy. The credit flows continued to add up. Even for a dar'jetii, Ab'ki had to be mad to do all of this in response to one event almost a decade ago. But there was no mistaking that everything led up to this. It made sense of what was happening on Concord Dawn. Shab, it even helped explain why Viba had been so unwilling to walk away.

 

There was a moment of silence in the room as the implications began to settle upon those gathered. Kandor felt the weight of his responsibility descend upon his shoulders, and he knew what he was going to have to do.

 

"And I will rally the clans to repel them," Fett said, his voice harboring no uncertainty. "However this started, it's all of our fight now." He looked around the room, his eyes coming to settle on Mirdala. He was going to need all of their support, and hers especially. He couldn't be just the beroya or cop or vigilante anymore. Now he needed to be Mand'alor, to muster and lead an army. And not even all the experiences of the Moon Knights had prepared him to do that.

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As the data had continued to roll in Mirdala's jaw had set and a quiet, but controlled fury took hold. Where did this all end? What right did Ab'ki, Judyc, and Fieyr have to continue to take from her, from the Mandalorian people? Had the whole point in everything been to initiate a sector-wide war? To what end? The final annihilation of the Mandalorian people, their knowledge, and their skills?

 

Ab'ki had certainly done all she could to soften up her target, from the hunting of the Seekers to the chaos created by fostering distrust between the people of the Mandalore sector and the Journeyman Protectorate that upheld the law within. What else might this dar'jetii be preparing to throw their way? What would happen if they failed.

 

No, she stopped herself. Failure is not an option. As Kandor's gaze fell to her, she realized that much of her life had been building to this moment and the weeks to follow. She nodded slowly before stepping forward to take another look at the data analysis.

 

"She has to know we have this now. Judyc has been out of contact for too long for her to think him still on his mission to hunt us down. If I were her, I'd move immediately before what surprise I still had left was spent. I don't expect she'll give us long to make our own battleground. Better to put out the call before we leave."

 

"Wait one," Reska said, holding her hand up as Mirdala had already pushed off from the console and had taken a few steps towards the door. "Won't putting out the call just lead to a greater possibility of sabotage from within our own ranks? If we're all to rally to Mand'alor's call, that would mean the turncoats would as well." She shrugged at the others before adding, "It's what I'd do if I was still keeping my true allegiances quiet and waiting to do the most damage I could."

 

"What else would you propose then Reska?" Mirdala retorted. "There's not enough family fit to fight to repel a force of this magnitude."

 

"What if," TeVerd interjected, glancing to Kandor, "We took the risk? You said it yourself that most of those on Dawn were content to hunker down to defend their own farms and families. Those that seek harm to the sector appear to be in the minority."

 

"One large enough to cause a significant amount of chaos," Taen put in.

 

"So we identify them where we can and let them think we're none the wiser," the elder Ageless finished with a look at his nephew. "Mirdala knows how.

Don't you?"

 

The younger woman bit her lip, trying to piece together what her father was implying. "The imprinting from Ab'ki, Ca, and Fieyr...my empathic abilities and Force abilities. I subtly screen those that come to us for any signs of those imprints...or intentions..." She shrugged and ignored the knotting in her stomach. "It's worth a try. It wouldn't be better for me to use the imprinting to find Ab'ki or Fieyr first?"

 

"No," TeVerd remarked flatly. "They've been in your head enough as it is. It's not wise to risk more. It would only give them one more avenue to potentially deceive us and play more into their hands than we already have."

 

Mirdala's lips pursed, "But I know I can find them. Why not take the head off of the Krayt Dragon than expose the sector to another bloody war?"

 

"Because they've had years of practice more than you have at mental warfare. It's not worth the risk to you or to this family, Mirdala. She could easily lead you to believe you're finding what you want and having free reign of your mind while doing so. I will not risk losing you like that again!" TeVerd's secondary lenses had snapped into place, causing his eyes to glow, and the last sentence had come out in a low growl around his fangs.

 

Mirdala nodded her head but understood his concern. It wasn't as though she couldn't see his point, she just had more faith in her own abilities as of late than he seemed to. At least he hadn't used the old "because I said so" standby. "Better get to it then, the sooner we put out the call the sooner we can start screening our forces. May the Manda be with us all."

 

And with that, she left the room.

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Ke barjurir gar'ade, jagyc'ade kot'la a dalyc'ade kotla'shya. - "Train your sons to be strong but your daughters to be stronger."

“A Mandalorian woman's greatest talent is not her charm or beauty, but her strength of body and will.” - Mandalorian proverb

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Though he didn't say anything, Kandor had to appreciate TeVerd's caution. Mirdala was strong, but they didn't know enough about Ab'ki's and Fieyr's own strength to be certain that she would succeed. And if she failed for whatever reason, not only would they lose her and the important skills she would bring in the coming days, but it would be for nothing. Fett did not think her idea was completely off the table, but it was at this stage. There would be a battle in the Mandalore Sector.

 

As Mirdala left he continued to look at the data for another minute. "Army wasn't going to march for another two months," he said, pointing at the timeline 2277 had compiled. "Mirdala's right that our dar'jetii friend will accelerate her timeline, but we should still have a few weeks to put together a welcoming party."

 

It was an impossibly short timeline for raising almost any other army in the galaxy. Normally such a process would take several months to a year to even build an inexperienced force from scratch. But the Mando'ade were built and organized for this... at least in theory. Kandor had never put out a call like this nor answered one, so he couldn't really say just how fast everyone would come together. When he had rallied a force to evict the Kyr'tsad it had just been whoever was around Keldabe and ready to go. There would need to be a huge force from across several systems in the Sector to repel this invasion, and they would still need to be formed into a cohesive structure.

 

Fett already felt like he was just standing around. He activated his implant. "Twenty-two, keep a copy of that data. There will be time to look at it in depth on the way to Manda'yaim," he said. "I have an appointment to keep at the Oyu'baat." Then he looked at the others gathered and simply nodded. They didn't need him to tell them what needed to be done, nor did he have any desire to do so.

 

He headed out of the room and to his quarters to put on his beskar'gam and pack up, for now trying not to reflect on the billion logistics concerns that were forming in his kovid. For now he just had to act and find what counsel he could in his aliit and his team -- many of which had even fought in the Clone Wars. He was confident it would be enough.

 

----------------------------

 

Less than an hour later, he and Mirdala departed for the Mandalore Sector aboard the Justice.

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  • 7 months later...
  • 3 months later...

The Galactic GlobeTrotter shuddered out of hyperspace above the green-blue blur of Chandrila, and from the cockpit, Kalen Lorell could not help but notice that from this far away, the globe was not unlike the glittering eyes of his counterpart. His daily message to the Gems pinged back to him, indicating that either their comlinks had been destroyed, or they had a good reason for flying under the radar and remaining out of contact. Given that the news out of Nar Shaddaa had not improved, he was unsurprised, but the low-grade concern in the back of his mind had yet to find anything assuaging. Poring over the Holonet offered other enticing possibilities, however. He had not yet lined up a concert date for Ammi on Chandrila, opting to simply take her somewhere quiet where she might catch a flicker of rest after a disappointing trip to Carida that could have gotten them both in significant trouble for different reasons.

 

But if what he was seeing was true, they had ample reason to be elsewhere with no small amount of immediacy.

 

"Ammi," he said slowly, attempting to mask his electric glee, "how do you feel about crashing another important party? The, uh, the audience is a little trickier this time."

 

The holo flickering in front of him was only faintly visible around his form from where he stood in the cockpit, but the faint outline of the names E'lann-Zinthos hovered in the air like bait on a hook.

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Ammi found the trip from Cardia to Chandrila a welcome bit of relief. Despite losing another solid streak of sabacc games (and relenting on her threat to have M3Z-Z0 deliver that punch), she felt calm and collected. She left behind the thoughts of finding information on her parents or the worries caused by that. The dreams she had since the Memorial were muted as well, just finding her night's rest dreamless and quiet.

 

She didn't worry about finding another gig, spending her time catching up on her guitar and singing practice, as well as the melody for the Ace of Coins and Queen of Air and Hearts, not wanting to work too overtly on the lyrics while Kalen was around. 4L-T0 and B45-50 for their part, just assisted Ammi in her practice, chiming in with the piano, guitars, or drums when she needed to actually hear particular melodies for song writing purposes, or playing back some of Ammi's own work to help coach her on new techniques. M3Z-Z0 and 50P-R4N0 remained silent and observant, concluding that their charge couldn't get into too much trouble now they were in space. Ammi still proved them wrong and there was both clean up and first aid needed in the cargo bay after Ammi picked up with her dancing practice and got the brilliant idea that she could be more maneuverable without gravity.

 

Nursing a small bump on the back of her head from where she hit the ceiling earlier, she limped into the cockpit just as Kalen, leg a bit stiff from her rough landing a half-hour ago. She saw the glee on his face and felt a rush of both excitement and wariness. Between his marching earlier as they left Cardia and now this, she couldn't quite remember seeing Kalen this... free. She wondered if he was like this more now that he... really they... were cut loose from their ties to the Gems for the time being and able to do as they pleased.

 

"Mmmmm. A party to crash? I'm listening...." she murmured, then saw the names pop up, her eyes going wide. "Oh my," she said, the audacity behind it stunning even her for a moment before a grin crossed her face, the manic light returning to her eyes. Nothing more needed to be said before it would be back to Coruscant for her.

 

4L-T0 and B45-50, the former coming up behind Ammi with an ice pack for her head, both heard the exchange, then mutely turned around. 4L-T0 used the ice pack to cool down his own head as his internal processors nearly overheated trying to contemplate All The Ways This Could Go Wrong.

 

50P-R4N0, having been relegated to finishing up cleaning work in the cargo bay, saw 4L-T0 return with the ice pack on his own head and B45-50 double face palming made a very simple, flat remark to M3Z-Z0.

 

"This can't be good."

Forgiveness is a rebirth of hope and a reconstruction of dreams. Once forgiving begins, dreams can be rebuilt. When forgiving is complete, meaning has been extracted from the worst of experiences.

- Beverly Flanigan.

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  • 1 year later...

Kail's fighter rattled a little as it entered the atmosphere. Chandrila, a planet full of natural beauty, a few large cities, and lots of small scattered settlements. Just the type of boring place a former Galactic Alliance Senator would hide out on. Checking his readouts momentarily, he then shifted his focus to the blinking red button on his console.

A woman shrouded by darkness suddenly appeared on his screen. It was his informant, Jinx. He knew next to nothing about her. He couldn't even make out much more than that she was female because of the ambient darkness around her and cloak that she wore during all their communications. Jinx wasn't even probably her real name. But Kyle could care less. They had steadily become an efficient team over the last couple of years and their partnership had been more than lucrative enough to justify continuing with their arrangement.

"Finally!" the voice exclaimed as the person on the other end appeared to fold their arms.

Kail scratched at the patchy facial hair that now adorned his face after a few missed nights of shaving, "What do you got for me?"

"I take it you are there?"

"If there is Chandrila, yes. If there is killing Senator what's his name, no."

"Kyle. Will you take this seriously for a second? The guy you want is Senator Godfrey D'Outremer. My sources say he was last seen in one of the larger cities off the eastern seaboard of the planet's largest continent. I'm sending the coordinates to you now."

That was one thing that he appreciated about Jinx. She got her job done and never sent him in completely blind.

All the same, she did not prepare him for that majestic buildings and pristine cityscape that awaited him as he neared his destination. Even Kyle could admit that made for a striking first impression.

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Paying his docking fee and landing his ship in the hanger provided, Kail pulled up all the information he had on the Senator. The way Kyle saw it, finding the Senator probably wasn't all that hard. It was the "getting to him" part that was probably going to be where he'd have to put in the real work.

((OOC: Any info on the character or  where I need to go from here would indeed be welcome @Delta73))

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"Tah tah!"

Waved the information broker who was shooing off the crowd of Rodians who had just paid heavily for some scandalous information regarding the Mothma family. Her cybernetic pink eyes flashed as she scanned the spaceport for any new customers. She was a spindly girl, a slave that had been brain drained, and a 33422 cybernetic unit bolted into the back of her head. Her memory was downloaded and uploaded through a neural link every few hours, and was maintained by the Black Sun criminal network. Those amethyst eyes found Kail and her arm limply pointed to the sign above her head that read.

'Information Broker' In crimson neon.

"You look lost traveler, need directions to a hostel to stay in?" Her voice was soft and carried with it a smile that was not sincere. 

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"Tah tah!"

Kail pauses for a second. He looked over towards the woman and then up at the neon sign above her.

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It would seem that subtly was not the strong suit of the information broker he was sent to meet. But she definitely fit the look and profile of the contact he was supposed to meet. 

Jinx, what in the world have you gotten me into. 


Squeezing his way through the crowds of commuters, traders, and what looked like tourists, Kyle soon found himself standing in front of the scrawny, amethyst eyed female. 

"You look lost traveler, need directions to a hostel to stay in?"

Kyle looked up at the sign and back at the woman again. He gave her a half smirk in a Han Solo type of way before tilting his hips and posturing a little bit.

"And you look like you could use some time off. But I'd think you'd at least offer to buy me dinner first?"

Edited by Kail
proofing...
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The young slave gave the traveler a very blank look, the LED lights in her eyes flashing a rainbow aura as she processed his answer for signs of a questions, while the human side of her smirked right on back at him in an effort to convey that she agreed with him. 

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"There are many dining establishments on this beautiful world of Chandrila, but sadly I cannot accompany you though like everything from my owners, I am for sale if you have the credits. Is there anything else I can assist you with good sir?" 

Her eyes stopped on a pale red and her smile returned to a blank slate. 

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