Moon Knight

Mirdala made quick work of the stone table, her Force training again opening doors. The Force had a very different set of rules from other tools, not only concerning how it interacted physically with their environment but also inescapably the philosophy that governed what constituted appropriate use. Fett was glad that, although Mirdala was justifiably angry and in the early stages of grief, she was in control of her powers and had used them both to aid in their defeat of Ab'ki and now to escape the cave. As for himself, his thoughts remained strictly forward facing. He had respected TeVerd greatly both as a verd and as aliit, though he had only known him for a few short months. Now that Ab'ki and Fieyr had joined Judyc Viba in death, the Shadow War that had claimed his life and those of so many others like Hwulf Ad'Nort would now finally end after a decade of blood. But it wasn't over until every last invader was dead or driven from the Sector, and it was still his responsibility to see that through, so for now he would neither relent in his forward progress nor stop to count the losses and sacrifices that had been at each stage necessary. Presently Fett appraised the flow of water for a moment then dove in, his buy'ce visor toggling over to a setting that would most help him in the dark but clear waters. Immediately the current began to sweep him down, and he projected a repulsor cushion that padded him from slamming into the rocky walls and injuring himself further. Liquid began to pool within his flight suit, revealing that it had been compromised during the fighting, but his buy'ce's seal was intact and so were his oxygen tanks, so the walls posed more of a threat than asphyxiation. A few minutes of guided drifting later, the tunnel opened up into a larger pool of water and Fett navigated to the surface, Mirdala close behind. The pool occupied about half of a larger chamber they'd passed through on their way in, and Vy'ika and Rhys were there waiting for them to haul them out of the water. Vy'ika had a pronounced limp and was half leaning on his vod as they then headed out into the gorge, the Justice still overhead. "2277, report," Fett said. "All local hostiles have been eliminated, Master," the beskar'ad stated. "However, before they were terminated, I detected several encoded transmissions being exchanged by the mercenaries with a nearby village. I took the liberty of deciphering them and have confirmed hostile presence at the coordinates I'm sending you. They may have civilian hostages." Fett immediately realized what this meant, and judging from her clenched fists, he knew Mirdala's next move. "Pick us up. We'll take a look."

ShadowFett was completing his sweep of the cavern, collecting his discarded weapons as he did so, when suddenly Mirdala's vitals stabilized and she wordlessly arose and began the grisly task of sawing the heads off their enemies. He watched her silently for a moment, immediately glad that she was again conscious but not certain where she was psychologically. She had a way of clamping down and pushing him out when she was dealing with grief as with after Nubia, and the loss of her buir sharply offset the victory they had just earned. The Omicrons had also lapsed into silence as they slowly made their way back out of the cave towards the Justice, the cave-in not having blocked their corridor as it had Fett and Mirdala's. At any rate, when her work was done, Mirdala did finally speak. It was encouraging that she expressed concern for him instead of being purely focused inward. "I'm fine," he said despite his obvious makeshift sling and his limbs which felt like they each weighed as much as a bantha. He'd taken a mild drug to help numb the pain and it was working, but it still took considerable effort to even remain standing. He looked her over, trying to figure out if he should try to focus her on getting out of there or if it was more appropriate for him to say something. "Mirdala, about TeVerd--" he started. Mirdala gave him a sharp look and the minute shake of her head. Fett nodded and turned to the center of the cavern with the stone table. He preferred to have the conversation later, too, as long as they had it. "Penetrating radar indicates a tunnel beneath the tablet," he stated, pointing to it with his good hand and then tracing an invisible path across the floor with his finger. "Not sure I have the ordinance to get us in, and it's full of water, but it leads back toward the cave entrance. If we can get in, we might be able to swim it." He wasn't in great condition to swim, but the flowing water and perhaps a little use from his repulsor pack should make it a viable option. He couldn't drown in his beskar'gam, which could sustain him for hours in deep space. He knew Mirdala's kit wasn't vacuum sealed, but the buy'ce was at least air tight as she had used it to safely move about in the toxic air on Abraxos.

As his wife collapsed, Fett had to shift her against his right arm to keep her from hitting the cave floor, his left thoroughly useless except to keep him in pain. He slowly lowered her, glancing over at Ab'ki as if to make sure she was actually dead and the area was secure. But for the sound of running water, the cave was now quiet, once again a tomb rather than a battleground. Settling Mirdala against the stone he couldn't blame her for needing a break, but with their injuries and the cave-in they couldn't yet afford it. He touched the side of her face. "Have to keep moving," he told her gently. She didn't move. In fact she was completely limp. He frowned beneath his buy'ce and gently lifted one of her eyelids. She was thoroughly unconscious. He popped the seal on his buy'ce and had to bend down to slide it off with one hand, then used his teeth to remove his right glove, reaching his fingertips beneath her neck seal to check for a pulse. He couldn't feel a thing. She's dead. The thought nagged at him. Of course he had always known that it could happen. They'd sworn to each other that they would not relent in their duty to the Sector and the galaxy when they were married. But still... it had only been six weeks. There was still so much they hadn't done yet. Can't... know yet, he finally thought. Thinking was getting difficult. His limbs dragged. He grabbed his buy'ce and put it in his lap, hitting a series of keys in back that would reboot the computer. With any luck it hadn't sustained any permanent damage. Sure enough, after a few seconds the lights started flickering and the comm crackled to life. "-dor, Dika, come in please!" Rhys was barking in Mando'a. "What the shab is going on down there!?" Kandor thumbed the control. "This is Fett," he said slowly. "Rhys. Verdeyuii. Ab'ki and Fieyr are dead. Think I've... lost Mirdala." "You sound like hell. Are you injured?" Vy'ika's voice cut in. "Going into shock," Kandor answered matter-of-factly. "Mirdala's left belt pouch. Antishock hypo. Take it," Vy'ika ordered. Fett put the buy'ce on to free up his good hand and fumbled around in the pocket. Sure enough, the familiar orange vial that Nekkir was so fond of. He had to use the corner of his chestplate to prep it, rolled down his own neck seal and administered it. His pain flared but immediately his kovid started to clear up a little. "Done," he said. "Are you getting anything from Mirdala?" "Kandor," Rhys said. "TeVerd is dead." Mand'alor looked back at his wife, deflating slightly. "Shab," he said. He knew she would have immediately felt it empathically. It could explain why she'd been filled with such rage. He shook his head. "2277, get me the backdoor into her implant we set up on Hapes. Rhys... could TeVerd's death also kill Mirdala? Can you feel her?" There was a pause. "They were linked very closely." It was Vy'ika that answered. "Sorry, Kandor, I can't tell if she's still in there." The seconds passed like hours. Fett was sure that his elbow was fractured or worse. It could be fixed, assuming they could even get out of the blasted cave. Finally, his beskar'ad reported that the link was made, and sure enough, Mirdala's vitals sprung up on his HUD. They were... sporadic at best. "Implant reports she's alive," he said at last, tentative relief trickling through him. She was in bad shape and there was still no guarantee she'd last, but he hadn't lost her just yet. "Barely." "She must be pretty deep," Vy'ika said. "If we can get to her we might be able to help her. We'll keep looking for a way up, but we had some trouble ourselves and my own mobility is impaired." Fett went through Mirdala's medical supplies and what he carried on his own belt pouches, found a few drugs that he thought might help stabilize her, and administered them, then made her as comfortable as he could manage with one hand and the materials he had around him. He dropped the beskad'ika Mirdala had given him on the floor, positioned it blade up between his plated knees, then used it to cut a length of gauze to fashion a rudimentary sling for his left arm in an attempt to limit its movement until it could be fixed up. With a prodigious effort he got back to his feet and began to use his penetrating radar to look for another passageway, activating his repulsor pack on its lightest setting just to take the edge off simple gravity that was in his condition becoming almost unbearable.

ShadowFett dropped to his knees when the lightning finally subsided, his beskar'gam glowing red from the heat and his muscles still twitching. His buy'ce's systems were totally haywire and even his implant was shorted. Mirdala stood over him, Kirlocca's blue jetii'kad, pulled from its place within his satchel, blazing furiously in her hands. She had always sworn she would never draw a Jedi's weapon, even when Kirlocca himself had offered to instruct her in its use. But now it nonetheless stood ignited in his defense, and he knew it wouldn't stop there. The fight wasn't over. Forcing his muscles to cooperate in a tremendous act of physical discipline, Fett grabbed one of the last functioning weapons he had in reach -- his disruptor carbine. The tendrils of lightning Ab'ki continued to pour onto Mirdala's blade were now reflecting off and spiking out in random directions, and Fieyr had caught a bolt or two, but he seemed to be staggered by something else, perhaps empathic. Whatever had happened, Mirdala was furious. Still Fieyr was pushing forward against whatever force was opposing him. ShadowFett leaped and threw himself at the huge Ageless hybrid feet-first, connecting with a solid clack against his thick plates and landing on his back. Fieyr stumbled and so ended up ankle deep in the running water on the cave floor -- water which now was conducting freely the Sith lightning arcing between Mirdala and Ab'ki. Finally Mand'alor brought his disruptor to bear and opened fire upon his paralyzed target, having to make the shot unsteadily with the carbine held in one hand. The energy blast struck waist-level and half of Fieyr's body was disintegrated instantly, what remained dropping as a heap of beskar and body parts into the water with a series of splashes, the stream running purplish red. The lightning stopped as Ab'ki witnessed the death of her Kath hound. "Take her, Mird'ika," Fett urged his riduur. He had one or two tricks left. His luma darts, which would have been tremendously effective normally, were inaccessible. He couldn't trust himself to make another one-handed shot with his disruptor, especially with Mirdala in melee and Ab'ki with access to the Force. But he did have a short cortosis blade which he now pulled, snapping it out to its 24-inch length. He looked upon the flashing lightsabers and waited for an opportunity.

The stalactite was unexpected, and ShadowFett was astounded at the sheer power Ab'ki displayed in pulling it down. Meters across, it could easily have crushed both him and Mirdala if they hadn't been just quick enough to clear it. The result was not significantly better. Separated from his riduur even for a few seconds, he would need to defend himself against the combined onslaught from both of their enemies until she could get back. There was no time to think about it. Giving himself over to training and instinct and leaning heavily on his Moon Knight memories, Fett simply acted. Parrying a strike from the Twi'lek's jetii'kad, he ducked a head-level blow from Fieyr and felt his targeting rangefinder snap off his buy'ce as the blade dragged across the soft stone of the stalactite behind him. He spun and triggered his repulsor pack, propelling himself off the surface to slam shoulder-first into Fieyr, but the man barely staggered. Fett pivoted around him, trying to get the big man between him and the lightsaber, but Ab'ki spun the other way and met him there. He warded off the resulting attack with his right gauntlet again, using an adapted Teras Kasi arm block. The blade cleaved his wrist laser clean in half however. Dropping back a step the other way, Fett attempted to move towards Mirdala, but Fieyr cut him off with a vertical blow that had all the finesse of a sledgehammer. Retaliating, Mand'alor swung for his kneecap while with his left hand he drew his sonic pistol from that hip and triggered a few blasts. Fieyr grunted but Ab'ki twisted away with her Force-enhanced reflexes before sweeping rocks and debris from the area and telekinetically using it to pummel him. Fett shielded himself as best as he could, but a large chunk clipped him on the left shoulder and slammed him back into the stalactite, jarring the ysalamir case magnetized to his repulsor pack out to one side. Fieyr was again right there before him, leveling his enormous beskad at Fett's chest diamond, intent on skewering him, plate or not. Fett did the only thing he could. He pitched both his weapons, released the magnet on the beskar ysalamir case and whipped it around front, interposing it between the blade and his chest. The pointed tip immediately penetrated the first layer of metal, proceeded through it, skewered the lizard which gave an audible shriek, broke the far plane of the case, and punctured perhaps three millimeters deep into Fett's chest diamond before finally running out of momentum, again slamming him jarringly back into the stalactite hard enough that for an instant his vision blurred. Too close. Moon Knight twisted the case and managed to rip the beskad from a surprised Fieyr's grasp, but as he did so he felt his left elbow, weakened by the speeder wreck and subsequent days of fighting, finally give out, and that wasn't the worst of it. Ab'ki immediately noticed the death of the ysalamir. Her now-visible orange and red eyes clouded with hate as she turned upon him. Fieyr stepped back next to the stream cutting through the chamber to draw another weapon and Ab'ki let loose another blast of Force lightning against which Fett now had no defense. Electricity coursed over his armor and played havoc on his buy'ce's computer systems as he felt his skin burn. He lost muscular control and the whole oyu'baat became pain.

With her jetii'kad drawn and her Force lightning ineffective, Fett knew Ab'ki's next move would be to close into melee. Although his ysalamir would take away a lot of her edge in melee against him, it was never a safe bet to go toe-to-toe against a lightsaber. Even if his beskar could take a blow, it didn't protect his limbs or waist against a precise strike. Determined to keep her from even getting to them and cut the fight short, he held his assault rifle for a moment in his left hand and with his right quick-drew his verpine shattergun from his hip holster. Fluttering his finger against the trigger, he sent four magnetically-accelerated rounds downrange towards Ab'ki, their only sound made when they easily broke the sound barrier. The dar'jetii was already in motion, making it a tough shot better executed while sniping from prone. The first round she caught on her crimson blade. The cortosis slug did its work and the lightsaber deactivated. The second round was explosive but missed by a hair and detonated against the cave wall beyond her with a small but bright flash, the third round just behind it. The final round stopped just short of Ab'ki as she somehow managed to snag it with telekinesis. Immediately Fett was out of time as she leaped forward in the wake of the attack, her blade flashing to life again. Fett fell back a step and dropped his shattergun, opening fire with his assault rifle towards the Twi'lek's feet and legs to force her to keep her lightsaber low. She successfully deflected one of his blaster bolts back at him and it scorched along the side of his chestplate. Mirdala, twin beskar kukris drawn, suddenly attacked Ab'ki from the side, making a whirling series of attacks from the edge his ysalamir bubble. Due to their training, she was intimately familiar with the dimensions of the null Force zone and could weave in and out of it to give her the edge in melee. Meanwhile Fieyr popped back out of cover and took a few pot shots, but with Ab'ki in close quarters he opted instead for the enormous stolen beskad. Fett dropped to one knee and sneaked a few blaster bolts past Ab'ki towards him, but he took two of them on his thick beskar plating and continued forward unchecked. Fett dropped the assault rifle and opened up with his flamethrower, sweeping from Fieyr's position to Ab'ki's. The dar'jetii leaped clear over the attack and Mirdala both, but Fieyr somehow charged through it and brought his blade down on Fett, who just managed to divert it with his right gauntlet, the strength of the hit like a wookiee's as the impact reverberated down to his bones. He quickly countered, triggering an explosive dart from his left gauntlet to strike Fieyr's chestplate even as he drew his own beskad and brought it across Fieyr's waistline. He was pretty sure he found some purchase but the part-Ageless was too big and well-built for it to slow him down. ShadowFett had worked hard to gain a physical advantage against most humans, but he couldn't compete outright against Fieyr blow for blow. He'd have to out-think this one. Suddenly Mirdala cut across Fieyr's side through the dispersing smoke to avoid ending up directly between him and Ab'ki, so Fett turned to catch an opportunistic lightsaber strike across his blade. If they could buy a few moments for them both to focus on one target, he was certain they could bring either one down, but neither could be ignored even for a second. Whoever faltered first in coordination or execution would lose.

ShadowFett followed his riduur, keeping just far enough back that she would not be within the ysalamir bubble. Although the lizard would provide an important tactical advantage against Ab'ki, it was a double-edged beskad, and the fact that none of them had noticed the ceiling trap made it better to rely on Mirdala's Force precognition to detect any subsequent ones. They kept open comms with the other two Seekers off down their own branch of the tunnel. About a minute into their walk, Rhys reported enemy contact with a patrol, but after a moment the firefight had ended and they proceeded. Fett and Mirdala noted that their elevation was dropping while Vy'ika stated that their own was holding level, which did not speak well of their chances of meeting up again. If the Seeker ghosts were leading him and Mirdala to Ab'ki, they would have to face the dar'jetii without backup. Fett forced himself to remain on high alert despite his weariness from the last few days with little sleep. Any moment they would be in the fight of their lives with no guarantee that they would walk away. Every fight was important -- Fett did not enter combat unless he was willing to give his life to achieve his objective. But the stakes were higher for this one, as they could impact the future of the Sector and the Mandalorian way of life for years. They could not fail, certainly not due to inattentiveness. He needed to be at his best for just a bit longer. It wasn't that long. In his penetrating radar he spied two wireframes ahead around one final bend in the cave passage. One was approximately human but enormous, broad and maybe seven feet tall like TeVerd and even taller than Rhys and Vy'ika. The other was diminutive by comparison and slim. Fieyr and Ab'ki. They were waiting. Fett paused. "Careful!" he transmitted over their implants when Mirdala continued blindly forward, not sensing the ambush. He darted forward just as she reached the bend and shoved her flat against the cave wall just as Fieyr's opportunistic volley of blaster fire erupted from his position, scattering chips of stone and bioluminescent flora across the passageway. Fett responded to the assault with a grenade, ricocheting it around the corner. He watched the Fieyr wireframe dart for cover and surged around the bend, assault rifle up as he assessed the tactical situation. The chamber was large and tall. In the far corner and in a small winding path through the area was standing water from the natural spring. Numerous stalactites and stalagmites dotted the area, sometimes joining together to form stone columns. The center of the room bore a sort of stone table or perhaps an ancient sarcophagus, behind which stood who could only be Ab'ki. She wore the trappings of a Sith, but upon her head was an oversized buy'ce out of which her orange lekku dangled. To one side, now behind a pillar as the concussion grenade detonated, was Fieyr in a heavy green-and-black beskar'gam, carrying a rifle and an enormous beskad. Ab'ki appeared for the moment unarmed, but as Fett and Mirdala moved into the room, she let loose a powerful blast of Sith lightning which flashed across the gap before dissipating harmlessly a meter before its target. Fett fired back, but she caught the nearest bolts on her outstretched palm, and then into her hand slapped the metallic hilt of a jetii'kad, its crimson blade sparking to life. The adrenaline started pumping. It would last until victory or death.

Although ShadowFett could not see Tikkorel or Randavock, Mirdala had told him enough that he recognized the names. They were ancient Seekers, the very first of their kind. Their ghosts being here spoke of the severity of Ab'ki's trespass. Fett knew that he himself was out of place here, venturing into these caves with three Seekers to hunt their enemy. But the spirits would just have to forgive him, for he was not turning back. While this conflict had perhaps once been about Ab'ki, the Seekers, and Mirdala, it had now embroiled the whole of the Sector, and he was Mand'alor. There was another thump from outside the cave. "2277, report," he said over comms. "Targets have achieved deadness," the beskar'ad replied dryly. "Area momentarily secure." "Keep me informed." Fett turned a sharp corner in the cave and they came upon a place that was so narrow that he could barely fit through with his repulsor pack, and Vy'ika had even more trouble with his considerable stature. The floor was slowly transitioning from dirt and bedrock into shale, which was treacherous in sharp inclines and declines. Combined with the soft light they had to take things slow. After another minute the cave widened again and they came to a branch in the tunnel in a room with a high ceiling. Mirdala indicated the path forward and Fett took point again, counting on his penetrating radar to warn them of ambushes as the twisting corridors eliminated conventional line-of-sight. As he neared the path forward, however, suddenly Mirdala shouted just as he heard a mechanical beep coming from high above in the cavern roof. Mirdala charged him from behind even as he registered what was happening. Motion sensor, he thought. With a thunderous crack the explosive charge detonated and stone splintered, sending a rain of boulders showering down on their location. Once again her moment's precognition proved just sufficient that the two of them cleared the worst of the rock slide, their beskar taking a sharp pelting of jagged stone instead of them being instantly and permanently interred. They slid across the shale where they dove and Fett bounced up into a kneeling position, knocking his already-injured left elbow painfully against the cave wall as he did so. "Vy'ika! Rhys!" he barked into his comm. The stone around them continued to scatter and the air was thick with dust. No answer. He winced. If one or both of them had been caught under the cave-in there was no getting them out, and this place would become their burial ground just as it had been that of their ancestors. The comm came live again. "We're here," Rhys' voice cut through. "A little banged up but intact." Fett saw Mirdala visibly breathe out and he put a hand on her shoulder as they both got to their feet. He formed the hand signal for 'you okay?' to her. "Looks like we're cut off," Vy'ika said. "You two?" With the adrenaline fading Fett realized he'd taken a few hits and would have some bruises and lacerations to show for it, but he couldn't slow down now. "More or less whole," he reported. "We'll head up this branch, hope the passages reconnect again further down," Vy'ika said. If they didn't, the fighting ahead would get even worse. The trap might not have killed anyone immediately, but both squads were now at half strength.

"Lost track of at least one of them," Vy'ika reported to the rest of the traat'aliit as he appeared from the treeline across the gorge. ShadowFett moved to the edge of the ravine, rifle raised as he scanned for additional threats. "Need to move fast," he said. Even if Ab'ki's mercenaries were entirely incompetent they'd be coming to flank them. Going into that cave without a backup plan was a sure way to make it a one-way trip. "2277, move the Justice to the ravine. Keep low and secure the cave mouth against hostile incursion." The Justice, a MandalMotors Tra'kad, was already optimized for troop insertion and extraction. Armed with rotating blaster turrets with overlapping arcs of fire and plated with beskar, it would be more than up to the task unless the mercs were willing to launch ships against it. Even then it would additional time to mobilize the resources and the Justice under 2277's exacting control was more than a match for a few rag-tag mercenary transports. Fett then dropped into the gorge and used his sen'tra to moderate his descent, Vy'ika doing the same from the far side while Rhys and Mirdala were forced to rely on liquid cable. Fett covered them until their cetare hit the dirt, and a moment later the shadow of the Justice fell over them, spanning the canyon as loose stones scattered and trees swayed under its repulsor cushion. On repulsorlifts only it was quiet and Fett could hear its turrets swiveling through his buy'ce's ambient sound boosting as he moved toward the cave. Picking his way across the rocks he took point. The cave was nestled into the stone cliff face, flanked by small trees and wide enough that the stream would not impede their movement. Assuming at first that it would be dark, Fett toggled on his low-light vision, but as his eyes adjusted from coming out of the Shogun sun, he realized there was a bio-luminescence emanating from deeper within. More pronounced than the light though was the seeming weight of the air. "Feels almost like the Temple of the Moon," he said to Mirdala, although here it was more forbidding. "You said the ghosts were angry. Is this place important to the Seekers somehow?"

It became clear even before the Justice found a place to set down that Ab'ki had come well-prepared for an attempt to disrupt her purposes here. There were several bands of ver'verde roaming the wilds surrounding the target site -- a cave system formed around a natural spring. Surrounded on all sides by thick jungle, the cave was situated in a ravine cut long ago by the water source, which now exited from the cave mouth. The Justice put down a little bit outside Ab'ki's patrols and the four Mando'ade set out. Mirdala took point. Not only had she grown up in the area, but she'd had to survive in this jungle for two weeks following the murder of her buire by Judyc Viba and his team of fake ConSec agents, during which time she successfully evaded capture until the Ad'Norts had located and extracted her. Fett remained close behind her, carrying again his ysalamir which he expected would provide a substantial edge against Ab'ki. Verdeyuii and Rhys watched their flanks, the two Clone Wars veterans' empathic senses developed through Seeker training to enable them to sense and track Force users. It was quite possible that Ab'ki had been expecting a larger force to oppose her designs for the site, given the patrol patterns and camps. Fett had thought at first that it had been chosen purely because of Mirdala's history with it, but it was becoming clear that this location was important to the Seekers somehow. In any case, Mirdala's intimate knowledge of the terrain and the small size of their traat'aliit enabled them to bypass patrols by slipping quietly down secret paths undetected. Their luck wouldn't hold out forever, though. Perhaps ten minutes into their hike Ab'ki's forces became more concentrated as they approached the ravine itself, and soon they came across the first sentry squad they couldn't circumnavigate. Four individuals with nonuniform armor and weapons that came with a mercenary team. The Mando'ade paused only briefly, picked their targets, and executed their ambush. The firefight lasted less than three seconds, but it started a timer. If the Justice hadn't been spotted on approach or Ab'ki or Fieyr hadn't detected them through some other means, a dead patrol would certainly give away their presence. Picking up the pace, the team pushed ahead through the underbrush until Mirdala indicated that the ravine was just ahead. There were mercenary squads on each side of it overlooking the cave mouth. From their concealed location, they paused to make a plan. There was simply no chance of getting inside without being noticed. "I count four on the far side," Fett said. "Five over here, maybe six," Rhys reported. "Make that five on the far side," stated Vy'ika. Moon Knight checked his satchel. He had a few concussion grenades, a thermal detonator and a variety of ammunition in addition to the jetii'kad and other tools he kept in there. "We'll have to go loud," he said. He gestured at Vy'ika. "Want to use that sen'tra?" They quickly hatched a plan. ShadowFett drew his verpine shattergun and replaced his usual magazine of alternating cortosis and explosive rounds with one made up of explosive rounds exclusively. Scanning the far lip of the ravine, he painted his targets in his HUD. Surprise would be key. Once the team had signaled that they were ready, he opened fire. Magnetically-accelerated, a thermal well round whizzed out and struck its mark with a bright flash that disintegrated the man's chest plate and most of his rib cage. The rest of the team sprung into action. Vy'ika, and experienced jump trooper, rocketed across the gap while launching a fragmentation grenade with a low thump that, a moment later, struck the ground between two of their targets and detonated, tossing one of them off the edge and down onto the rocks below. Mirdala and Rhys ambushed the near-side squad at the same time and the sound of blasterfire started echoing through the jungle. One of Fett's targets disappeared into the trees, but he switched to a second and a trigger pull later that one fell. He switched back to his assault rifle and joined the hunt for the rest.

ShadowFett knew that it had always been the plan for TeVerd to come with them to help put Ab'ki and Fieyr down, and the fact that he couldn't was a strike against their traat'aliit. But there was no room for doubt in this operation. These enemies in particular had proven themselves quite adept at killing Mando'ade and even Seekers, but Mirdala, her vode Rhys and Verdeyuii, and Fett himself would have to manage. They were the galactic elite, some of the best verde anywhere, and they would not break under pressure. And they were well prepared. Fett was already starting to mentally review the training he'd put himself and his riduur through over the last few weeks. They'd known this fight was coming and had trained specifically for it based on everything they knew about their opponents. The reverse was most likely also true, and to Fett, the victors would be the ones that had done the most with that. While Mirdala spoke to her buir, Fett called Ops and made them aware of what was happening. The queen shabuir was making a move, and if she was killed, her followers would most likely disband. Ops wasn't too happy at first that Mand'alor was leaving Keldabe when it was on the ropes, but admitted that it was more a question of morale than any one soldier's tactical impact on the fighting. Since they were handling all the coordination anyway, they could make it so that he could leave without the army even noticing, though Fett was certain that most Mandalorians would agree with his reasoning for departing if it had a chance at ending the entire invasion. As soon as he got off the comm with them, he switched to his channel with 2277, who still had the Justice prepped after the bombing run, and arranged for a pickup on the outskirts of the city away from the spaceport. Finally he approached TeVerd and the others. "We're all set," he reported. "Let's get to the Justice and the three of you can pinpoint her once we're en route." Nothing about the plan was automatic, given that Ab'ki still had ships in orbit which had been steadily winning control of Mandalorian airspace. Manda'yaim would need a lot of help and soon if Keldabe was going to be standing after all this. "TeVerd. Watch over the city for me until we get back?" With that the four verde departed, grabbing a speeder and heading for the rendezvous with the Justice.

"We have to get back," ShadowFett said. Keldabe's spaceport was defensible and, if taken by the aruetiise, could serve as a foothold from which they could spread across the city. The move wasn't entirely unexpected; the Mando'ade had willingly weakened the city's defenses in order to pursue the ritual, and it was a decision he would stand by. Now they would have to deal with the fallout. But even as he checked in with the command center and started to rally his portion of the army for the march back -- assuming the battle at the secondary site didn't require their intervention -- Mirdala suddenly staggered and ripped off her buy'ce. Fett immediately drew close to her, enveloping her within the ysalamir bubble in case there was a Force attack. But what she was feeling was as much empathic as Force-based. The dar'jetii herself was on the move. Fett considered his options. He was not eager to abandon the battle for Keldabe, especially at this critical juncture. As Mand'alor the army was looking to him, and right now there was no clear path to victory. Not only was the spaceport under attack, but the bulk of Ab'ki's army still waited in their camp to the north and they outnumbered the defenders. It would take a lot of hard work if Keldabe was still going to be standing at all in a few days' time. But Ab'ki was the head of the snake. Mirdala needed to be there and she would need Fett as well as her vode there with her, especially if Ab'ki had surrounded herself with her most powerful servants. He remembered the lesson his Moon Knight vision had taught him one night that felt like months ago though it had only been days: it took discernment to find the right objectives, and even giving up a battle in one place could win the greater war. "With a little bit of time do you think you can find her?" he asked Mirdala. "If we have a shot at taking her down, we have to take it. I will make Ops understand even if we have to leave now."

Even with his disruptor Fett was making only slow progress advancing the remaining distance to the ritual site. He was about to order an all-out push which would potentially cost many lives in his assault team to finally cross the gap when Rhys and his riduur told him that he'd run out of time. The ritual was happening. He clenched his jaw. He knew what he had to do. "Twenty-two?" "Standing by, Master. I believe we are undetected." He put out a comm to the branch of the army he'd led to this site as well as the command center. "This is Mand'alor. Fall back from the ritual site. Repeat. Fall back," he ordered. He switched back to 2277. "Hit it." The deafening roar of the Justice's engines marked its arrival with two other Tra'kad-class vessels. A second later Fett watched as from each a pair of brilliant warheads streaked downwards, lighting up the night and leaving behind a trail of smoke on their path to the forest floor. The proton torpedoes struck the ritual site and detonated with enough force to shake the ground and the shockwave tore through the treetops. Leaves came showering down upon the army and the blaster fire paused as both armies attempted to assess what had happened and how to respond. Fett knelt next to his wife, who had doubled over in concentration to battle the ritual with her still-newly-trained Force talents. He put a hand on her shoulder and she nodded to him. It was over; the ritual at this site had been ended. It had cost the lives of every hostage that had been taken -- ad'ike and other civilians alike. They looked at each other for a moment from behind their buy'cese, but he knew they both understood. It had been the only call. Either the hostages died, or the whole city had died and the hostages along with them. The Mando'ad stood up again. "Fall back and regroup," he ordered the army. The Kyr'tsad seemed to also be pulling back to their camp somewhere to the north, the objective they had been guarding annihilated. Fett knew he didn't have the manpower to pursue them, given the size of the force that had attacked the previous night and how much of it had survived. So they would return to Keldabe and hole up again until they were eventually overwhelmed or help came from elsewhere. They might have won a victory out here -- if this could even be called a victory -- but they were still losing the war.

ShadowFett frowned as he shot down another cultist. "Could still be a lot of things," he responded after a moment. Isolder had seen a lot and faced the dark side on many occasions. He himself had witnessed Force storms during the Death Star battle. His other predecessors had varied experiences which he could remember with differing levels of clarity, but some of them had definitely encountered rituals of this scale. The cults could be doing anything from reanimating the dead to controlling the wildlife to creating a thought bomb that would imprison the souls of every Mando'ad in Keldabe. While those results ranged from merely challenging to permanently devastating, he had to act for now as though it were the worst-case scenario. "Can't take any chances," he said. "2277, take off and home towards my location. Fly low and quiet." "Acknowledged, Master," the beskar'ad responded. Prior to the battle, Fett had positioned the Justice and a few other Tra'kad-class vessels outside the city under a secluded cliff, waiting for the opportune moment to unleash them on the invaders. This could be that occasion. He understood that there were hostages in the center of the ritual, so a bombing run was far from his favorite option. But realistically he had no guarantee that rescue was possible. They would sure as haran give it a shot though. ShadowFett advanced again and the suicide cultists seemed to be thinning about a bit. They were however soon replaced by a greater threat. Emerging from behind the trees now were other armored foes, these clad in beskar. Fett had soundly beaten the Kyr'tsad leaders and evicted them from this world several months ago, but they could never be totally wiped out, and there was no doubt that some of them were itching for revenge. Such enemies would offer considerably more resistance than shirtless fanatics and would, unlike suicide bombers, be able to delay the excursion by putting up a prolonged battle due to their armor and other equipment. Fett immediately headed for a copse of trees for cover and opened up again with his assault rifle into the Death Watch ranks. He scored a series of hits, but beskar could shrug off small weapons fire with ease. He directed as many bolts as he could towards unarmored portions -- arms, joints, thighs, and the waist-level gap between the bottom of the chest plates and the top of any leg armor -- but such shots were difficult to land and often nonfatal, leading to a situation where an enemy might drop and still pose a threat. He did have some greater ordinance however. Having been stingy so far with grenades, he now let loose a thermal detonator on a group of enemy soldiers and traded his assault rifle for his compact disruptor carbine. A disruptor would penetrate even small amounts of beskar, and hits on flesh were guaranteed to be fatal, but he had limited ammunition and so would have to pick his shots carefully. On either side of him Mando'ade came charging up, scattering fire upon the Death Watch ranks while searching for cover, but for the moment their momentum stalled as the gap between the two groups became awash with volleys of blaster fire that no man could hope to cross.

Tension was high in the ranks after the smaller force split off for the secondary ritual site. ShadowFett and Mirdala remained with the larger force headed for the larger site. The traps had whittled down their numbers a bit, but the army was still a few thousand strong and largely unchecked. Meanwhile the location provided by the advanced Seeker team was drawing near, and a haze of smoke was drifting through the trees, further obscuring the stars and any conventional sense of navigation. Just when Fett suspected they would reach the ritual site unchecked, perhaps only to find themselves too late to stop it, the forest floor seemed to open up and raving cultists charged into the ranks of beskar'gam-clad soldiers, often holding aloft grenades or melee weapons. Snapping his rifle up to his shoulder, Fett immediately picked his nearest cluster of targets and opened fire. The bolts tore through their unarmored chests and superheated their blood to a mist, but in some cases that released deadman's switches or flung live ordinance into the ranks. Fett took off at a run tangential to what cultists he could see, stitching fire across any target that presented itself to him, even as the Mandalorian line broke as Mando'ade moved to avoid the explosive consequences of dropping their targets. Improvising as another group of lunatics spotted him and charged, Mand'alor let go of his rifle which he had in a sling and quick-drew his sonic pistol. Firing several shots, he managed to catch a live grenade in the sonic rings, causing it to detonate prematurely and consume its wielder as well as his closest compatriots in a fiery conflagration. Fett advanced, firing a few more times, the sonic bolts more than capable of killing on high settings, if not as readily as blaster fire. As he did so, another suicide bomber emerged from a nearby hole on his right flank and sprinted towards him, shouting unintelligibly. Unable to bring weapons fire to bear against the new threat, Fett crouched, setting his repulsor pack on reverse so that it would push outwards with the force that normally served to propel him into the air. As the cultist neared, he fired it and watched through his HUD as the man was thrown into the tree canopy above, striking a branch and detonating. Burning tree branches rained down and Fett moved again, Mirdala close by as they pushed ahead to the front of the Mandalorian force, engaging targets of opportunity as they navigated underbrush and rocky ground that made certain footing by no means a guarantee. As he shot down cultists, however, he couldn't help but wonder at their insanity. They were throwing their lives away, everything they had, just for the chance of killing Mandalorians or serving Ab'ki. They wore no armor and took no precautions, and had gone into this conflict with no intention of making it out. They were incredibly stupid and it made them incredibly dangerous for whatever brief moment of their choosing. Fett advanced against them. If they wanted to die, he would oblige them. The ritual site was getting close.

The lack of resistance at the treeline surprised the Command Center and also limited the use of the juggernauts. The heavy armor still proceeded into the forest with the bulk of the Mando'ade that escorted them, often running over trees that they couldn't easily maneuver around, and their heavy treads harmlessly set off or destroyed many traps that might have caused a casualty had they been encountered by a foot soldier. Even the combined efforts of the Seeker forward scout teams, the juggernauts, and the recon units sweeping for traps and ambushes weren't sufficient to catch all of them, however, and the casualty numbers started to tally up. ShadowFett's buy'ce was being fed numbers and information and reports at all times, but for the most part he was focused on his immediate surroundings to make sure he and Mirdala made it to the ritual site. They stayed a little shy of two meters apart at all times so that she could feel the Force and use it to monitor the rituals, but the Seeker teams were arriving and starting to feed back reports. The north ritual site was large and there were troops gathered to protect it. At least a few hundred, but it was difficult to get a correct count with the forest. The north-east site was smaller and had proportional defenses. Both would need to be hit. Mand'alor corresponded with Ops and then sent out his orders for a portion of the army to break off for the secondary site. It would include the Vevuts, Ardells, and a few hundred other Mando'ade, along with Darkfire. The bulk of the army would hit the main site and the thickest resistance. Shortly after those groups broke off the forest started to considerably bog down the juggernauts and they started to head back towards Keldabe, too bulky for this terrain and lacking the luxury of being able to follow one of the roads that led through the woods. Fett checked his rifle. Surely the enemy commander had taken the juggernauts into account when placing the ritual sites and defending forces.

"Darkfire doesn't have a spotless history when it comes to the dark side," ShadowFett transmitted back to Mirdala, thinking in particular of the pitched battle against Faust on Kuat Drive Yards, "but he's not working for Ab'ki. We can trust him to keep an eye on the new Vevuts." He stepped over to the nearby crate where he had a beskar-clad case resting. On their way back to the front from the first aid center, they'd swung by the Oyu'baat to check in with the command center and he'd also grabbed the case from his room. Inside was one of the ysalamiri they'd retrieved on Myrkr during their last visit following their ordeal on Nubia and during their subsequent recovery time. "We'll all have to take precautions out there," he added. There was always some trouble with carrying the ysalamir. He could carry it in one hand if he needed to, but that meant he couldn't carry his assault rifle. Instead, he had devised a system of electromagnets much like he used to mount his plates that allowed him to attach it to his repulsor pack. The extra twelve pounds of weight from the lizard together with the case were enough to affect his mobility. Still, he'd trained for a long time with it, and the protection it offered from the Force made it well worth the tradeoff when he knew he would be facing dark siders such as the cultists they were gunning for now. In any case, the army was starting to come together and they soon had word from Ops that they were a go to begin their march. They had scraped together eleven juggernauts in all that would serve as their vanguard, at least until the forest got too thick for them to pass without having to burn a new path, which would take more time than they could afford. The armor would be accompanied by heavy infantry and some recon units that would be sweeping the path for traps and mines. The two Seeker-led teams that had gone before were keeping a very low profile and disarming or marking whatever traps they could find, but they wouldn't spot nearly all of them. Their primary purpose was to provide intel on the ritual sites themselves. And so the enormous, decades-old juggernaut engines roared to life with no ceremony and began the drive north across no man's land and towards the enemy fortifications beyond. Fett and Mirdala would be near the front of the main body of troops numbering a few thousand strong. At first sign of enemy contact they would rush to the front, using the armor as cover, and engage. There weren't nearly enough juggernauts to cover the whole army, however, and until they were in the forest there was little to no natural cover, so heavy losses were projected if Abki's forces made a stand at the treeline. But the Mando'ade would push until they got through, knowing that if the ritual completed it could very well swing the whole battle decisively into the invaders' favor.

Having slept in half of his beskar'gam, ShadowFett quickly locked his magseals back on and slid his buy'ce over his head. He opened a channel to the command center and let his voice also come out of his helmet speaker so everyone was in the know. "Ops, this is Fett. The Seekers have alerted me to a dark side disturbance being generated from the forest at two sites. I've fought enough dar'jetiise to know this demands our attention. We'll have to make a push to their position. Start doing the logistics." He muted that channel and spoke purely to those present, specifically Rhys and Vy'ika. "It will take a little bit of time to muster a push," he said. "Any intel we can get before then will help our odds. That might mean a few scout teams with a Seeker on them to sneak out there, pinpoint the disturbance, and feed any observations back to the main force." There were of course some major challenges to pushing into the forest. They would be greatly decreasing the number of verde garrisoned in Keldabe. They would forfeit their home field advantage and have to face whatever traps and ambushes Ab'ki's army could set up. They would be fighting on someone else's terms, which never sat well with Fett. But if Ab'ki's people had the ability to do half the osik he'd seen in the past, which ranged from Force storms that could destroy capital ships in the Death Star battle to Faust nuking Kuat City from orbit, this was a threat that they couldn't ignore, and it far outweighed the danger that the artillery strike had posed. So they would push. "Mand'alor," a comm came back from the command center. Fett knew the voice as that of Rav Buurenaar, the tactician he'd recruited from Shogun. She'd been a significant asset thus far. "Sending you a list of clans we think we can commit to the push. It will leave Keldabe a bit vulnerable, but we should be able to tie the enemy forces up out in the field. You'll also be able to use the juggernauts you'd already started to gather in response to the shelling." "Jate," Fett answered. "Patch me through to the listed clans." It had been long enough since he had addressed everyone that he figured it was due, if only to let them know he was still alive. Once the channel was open, he spoke again. "Vode this is Mand'alor. We have reports of a significant dark side event in the forest. If you're hearing this, regroup on the north side of the city. We're going to push into the enemy forces and shut down whatever is happening there. Let's get it done. Fett out." ((OOC Note -- all clans with a PC can be in the list unless you feel strongly otherwise.))

"Of course," Kandor said reassuringly to Tresha. He wasn't particularly pleased with how either of the dalase had carried out their argument, but after what they had each been through with so little rest, it was no great surprise that their nerves were wearing thin. Fatigue could make a fool out of a sage unless checked. Fett glanced at Rhys, who nodded and indicated to Tresha that he would oversee reequipping her. Then he turned to his wife and addressed her over their private implant channel. "I understand. I do," he told her gently. "But you cannot protect everyone. We all have our duty, and if we weren't willing to risk our lives to do it, we wouldn't be able to face even ourselves, much less each other." He switched to speaking aloud for the benefit of the others present. "The point is largely moot," he said. "The demagolka could be anywhere by now. I'll inform Ops of the incident and we'll keep an eye out for her. You can't track someone across a battlefield like you can track a bounty, so we'll figure out how to take her down only when we have more information." Mand'alor started to place the call even as a request for new orders came in from Sector 6 about a power grid attack. He patched that call into his one to Ops so that they could handle the reassignment, as he didn't have a full picture of the battlefield himself. The current reports made it look like the battle was starting to die down, but there were still a few pockets of heavy fighting. The orders for Clan Vevut would be to stay close to the power grid in case it came under attack again, but to get some rest if they could afford it. Ab'ki's forces had attacked under cover of darkness the previous night and there was no telling when the next one would be. It looked like the orders would be the same for him and he was starting to feel like he needed it. Somehow even live combat wasn't as exhausting as the last few minutes had been.

Fett's face was dispassionate behind his similarly-neutral buy'ce as the bodies were brought in. Death was a part of war. The only thing they could do was make sure the enemy paid double for it and that Keldabe was left standing at the end of each day. He'd learned to compartmentalize and turn himself off long ago, and it enabled him to keep a level head through their enemy's taunts which were engineered specifically to provoke them into rash action. But that did not mean that she could be allowed to leave Manda'yaim, as she had at least proved herself a credible threat that could outlast Ab'ki's campaign. It simply meant that they could not allow themselves to be baited into making further mistakes and taking unnecessary losses by underestimating her. When Tresha spoke, her intention was apparent, and Fett wasn't going to stop her. "I'd go with you if I could commit to a manhunt right now," he told her. "Do you have a backup rifle?" His implication would be clear to another verd. This was a fight that had to be done on Tresha's terms, preferably from a long way away.

ShadowFett had to force himself to take the downtime after TeVerd was stabilized, and he reluctantly brought up his elbow and received a sleeve brace that would go over his flight suit and help keep the light injury from becoming exacerbated before it could get a better treatment. The brace would limit the flexibility of his left arm a bit, but he didn't think it would significantly dampen his ability to use his assault rifle. Certainly not as much as injuring it further would. With the brace in place, he settled back down to watch TeVerd's vitals and take a brief rest to recuperate a bit of energy and support Mirdala and Tresha. The first aid station was never silent, but it was quiet enough and they'd been pushing themselves for enough hours that he noticed Mirdala dozing off a bit after only a few minutes. He was caught again between his responsibility to get out there and fight and the biological needs of his body and Mirdala's to slow down instead of trying to make it through 12+ hours of combat without a break. The latter won out -- better to lose an hour here and there and then fight at one's peak rather than making hard contact while exhausted and getting killed. Still the repose didn't last long, only long enough for Rhys and Rahg to plan and execute their raid on the camp of aruetiise that had perpetrated the crimes of which Tresha had spoken. The way Mirdala surged awake and went over to Vy'ika immediately told him that something had happened, which a moment later was confirmed as the death of Rahg. He set his jaw. Rahg had been of a brutal and unwelcoming sort, and there was no love lost between him and Fett or Mirdala. But he'd been a professional soldier and had been since the Clone Wars. What's more, he had died defending Keldabe as the best verd could, and for that Fett respected him. Fett got up and put his buy'ce back on, tapping into the team's channel and heading out the way Vy'ika had. He needed to know what Rhys was up against and if they needed an extraction.

It was tempting to overuse the word demagolka. The Mando'a word was a reference to an individual, a mad scientist named Demagol, an infamous butcher and surgeon who had experimented on live patients including children. The name carried great derision among a culture centered around honor and family. It was easy to throw the term out to anyone who did questionable things as a way to heap scorn upon them regardless of whether their own evil acts were legitimately comparable in severity. But hearing Tresha's description of what she had encountered reminded Fett that Ab'ki, as well as some of her lackeys, really were that twisted. His hands paused in the middle of taping down another bandage, the only outward sign to an emotional response that was otherwise hidden by his buy'ce. He was no stranger to the horrors of battlefields. He'd endured much in his day, and experienced even more vicariously through the memories of generations of his predecessors as Moon Knight. But the wanton murder of innocents -- of ad'ike, no less -- in an act that could serve no tactical purpose but only to sate the murderer's depraved bloodlust... such cruelty and such cowardice were rarely seen in twenty-five thousand years. After a moment he finished applying the medical tape. "Doubt Rhys and Rahg will let her off easy," he said stoically. The Omicron Seekers were exceptionally effective at their jobs, and Rahg had his own brand of cruelty which Fett did not ordinarily look for in an ally. Turned against the monster whose misdeeds Tresha had related, however, perhaps it could be put to good use. He turned to face Tresha. "You've done all you can for now," he told her. "There's no shame in that. Only way we're going to see this through is if we keep our heads."

ShadowFett glanced over at Tresha for a moment before returning to work scraping some debris out of one of TeVerd's secondary wounds and then cleaning it with a bacta spray. "Been a busy day, Tresha," he said. He'd taken off his gloves and gauntlets to improve his manual dexterity, but kept his buy'ce on for the extra information it gave him. He had 2277 analyzing the scanner data and the beskar'ad was busy painting shrapnel, cuts and contusions in his HUD for him to target next. His own elbow was starting to throb again from the crash, but he fought down the pain. He could get it looked at once TeVerd was patched up. "Near miss from an artillery strike wrecked our speeder earlier," he explained. "Chanced upon some Kyr'tsad di'kute later who decided to try their luck. The kind of stuff we thought we might see before we leave." He dressed one of the bullet wounds while the medic he was working alongside did another. TeVerd's readings were steady. As long as something didn't go horribly wrong he would recover. "What got you and TeVerd into this mess? Run afoul another of Ab'ki's merc squads?" Mand'alor had faith that Rhys and Rahg would be able to take the squad apart that did this, but they were clearly well equipped, what with the number they did on TeVerd's beskar'gam. Frankly they were lucky the ancient Seeker was alive; he worried for Mirdala if she continued to lose aliit to Ab'ki's vendetta. But for him it was laser focus on the tasks that lay before him to make sure he was doing everything he could to get them all through this. Patch up TeVerd. Get back out in the battle. Protect Keldabe. Keep an ear to the ground to find Ab'ki the moment she showed her face in the Sector. Paint the walls with her blood for everything she had done.

Kandor frowned as his riduur fiercely gripped his hand and leaned on him for support, a sudden change from the contented break they were taking from the conflict. He turned to face her as she started speaking over their private link, though he suspected he knew what had happened even before she started. A sense of dread clutched at his heart when she indicated that it was Tresha and TeVerd that were in trouble, and he quickly fought it down. Out here, the chances of the whole aliit making it through in one piece were slim, and they'd all known what they were signing up for when they came out to fight in Keldabe's defense. That didn't make losing friends and family much easier, though. For the longest time, Fett had worked independently, refusing to get attached to anyone, due partially to the sting of betrayal he'd suffered at the hands of Piccolo. He'd hidden behind his mask and when people died, he moved on without a thought. When he'd made a decision to invest in Mirdala and her aliit, it had marked the demise of that mentality, a process which had started when he'd joined the Augury. He clenched his jaw. He didn't need to jump to any conclusions. He opened a channel. "Yeah," Vy'ika answered. "Tresha and TeVerd," Fett said. "Me'bana?" "They're down but alive for the moment. Extract already in progress. Rhys' and Ragh's teams are going to take down the dikute that did this." "Where?" Fett asked. Vy'ika paused. "You two can stay out of this one." "You know that's not going to fly with her, Verdeyuii." A sigh came through the line. "The incident happened on the southern cliffs. We're pulling them to the nearest first aid station. Bring Dika there if she wants to see them. Out." ShadowFett addressed the troops who were finishing their meals and filing back towards the juggernaut. "Something's come up. We'll have to take our leave here. K'oyacyi!"

ShadowFett hesitated at first. Accruing bruises and minor injuries aside, he wanted to push forward and get back out on the battlefield where he felt he could make the biggest difference. There were verde fighting and dying as they spoke, and the assassination attempt by some of Ab'ki's paid-for ver'verde had not rattled him. As long as he had a stash of ration bars in his belt pouches, he could keep going all day. But he couldn't ignore Mirdala's point. She unfortunately had a way of making sense. Although he had been expecting an attempt like this one ever since the original briefing he'd given in the Oyu'baat, the uncertainty could diminish the morale of the troop as it had decimated their numbers. Sitting down with them for a bit of skraan could potentially do a bit of good. Plus, Fett was wary of pushing Mirdala too hard. They'd already been out in the field for several hours and it could potentially be many more before the invading army withdrew from Keldabe soil for a time. So he nodded at her and the two of them headed over to where the soldiers were setting up an impromptu camp, breaking out rations and whatever other portable calorie sources they had. The bodies of the assailants had been dumped unceremoniously in a pile, still in their armor, where they would lay forgotten. The troop was as quiet as the corpses, absent the light banter that had been prevailing aboard the juggernaut mere minutes earlier. The sounds of battle were ongoing but distant; this place was safe for the time being. Kandor pulled off his buy'ce and tossed a ration bar to his wife, then bit into one of his own, finding a place to sit in the circle of verde. "I'll bet if any of you are traitors like them," he said, gesturing at the bodies, "you must be having second thoughts by now. Shab, I would be. Seems a simple mission, doesn't it? Kill Mand'alor and his wife when their guards are down. Everyone's got weapons, it's chaotic out there, and you're totally anonymous in your beskar'gam." He gave a short laugh. "Only there's a problem," he said. He looked around for a second, making eye contact with several of them, then pointed at Mirdala. "She's kriffing scary. In case you missed it she's a Seeker. Let me tell you, I didn't believe they were real at first either, but they're just like the legends. She can sniff out a traitorous thought, see an attack before it's going to happen." Fett stood up. "I sure wouldn't want to take my chances against her. Maybe that's why I prefer to keep her on my side," he said. He managed to get a few amused snorts from the troop. "Tell you what. If you're a traitor and you're waiting for your chance, let me give it to you." He toggled the magnetic lock on his chest plate and it dangled off to his left side. His rifle was on the ground, and all he had in his hands was a half-eaten ration pack. He stood in the middle of the group and slowly turned in a circle. He indicated his flack jacket. "Go ahead. She's sitting down, she might not be able to shoot you in time." After he did a full revolution, making eye contact with each soldier as he did so, he shrugged and resealed the chest plate. "No? Alright then, let's eat and get back out there. Plenty more shabuire to hunt."