Concord Dawn

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

The man nodded, but didn’t offer up any further explanation, beyond, “A time or two.” His attention was focused more on the young woman and walked past Kandor and into the shed as she tried to make sense of the scene before her.

 

Mirdala looked over her shoulder as he approached, sensing TeVerd's emotional signature with it's layers of concern, and also having sensed Soresh coming up to the building to join the others.

 

"Who-," she asked, worried about the significance of what was amounted to hiding the bodies.

 

"The ones that I could find, and that weren't otherwise accounted for." TeVerd said evenly. Mirdala could feel his tension and aggression buried deep inside, like a caged animal pacing.

 

He walked to the door next to her, pointing to each mound in turn. "Beliaile Threen, starship mechanic and loadmaster, Jerecht Devero, heavy weapons specialist, and Panthe Gailaar, pilot and infiltrator. All once of the Mercenary Brotherhoods." He shrugged. "I haven't found Panthe's partner, Essil Nar. Or their ships. Yet."

 

"I know those names..." She said quietly, just audible to TeVerd, a chill running through her.

 

Despite being under Nek's superior care over nearly the last year, she was still shocked to find the unexpected holes in her normally eidetic memory, a remnant of her past ordeals at the hands of the slavers a little over two years previous. She hated it because it frustrated her. She especially didn't like this because of what she felt from her partner.

 

She glanced from the graves to Tey and back to Soresh and Kandor. What had TeVerd been up to while she was on Coruscant and tying up loose ends in the Corellian system? He’d never provided her with any clues and never responded when she’d asked him.

 

Soresh shrugged, misinterpreting her look. "They're from buir's old team. You probably would have encountered some of them when we were little. I remember him saying a few came around when we were tots to help with house repairs and stuff like that, but I don't remember it. Might have been off with my grand-aunt making mud castles. Bel, though, came by a few times when Dad was still in the Brotherhoods. He made lots of shop-scrap toys for the village."

 

Tey leaned on the door frame, contemplating the graves. "If Jerecht had had his way, you would never have grown up on Shogun. Or at all." He shrugged. "Kind of a perfect merc, in that the lives of anyone but his closest workmates never registered with him."

 

“What do you mean?” Soresh in toned, surprised at the unexpected information, looking from Prentiss to Mirdala and back again.

 

“I was adopted on a mission, one Jerecht was on apparently. He wanted to treat me like a typical stowaway.” she jerked her thumb over her shoulder mimicking being tossed away. "I’m still learning about it myself. I’ll tell you the whole story, sometime. The Sivaara’s were some real winners,” She answered him, rather than leave her friend’s curiosity hanging.

 

TeVerd looked at Soresh for a moment, then turned back to her. “As I was saying, Jerecht was an amoral bastard, but he didn't deserve what he got." He waved at the mounds slightly. "Several of Erich's core team went missing years back. The ones I've found so far were tortured, in one case to death. The others were worked over very nastily for a good while, then executed."

 

“Hunted. Then tortured to death? And only Uncle Erich’s team?” Mirdala paused a moment trying to make sense of the developing puzzle before her.

 

"The ones who didn't have extensive families, anyway," Tey answered her.

 

"And you two think this ties back to my parents' murder twelve years after the last mission Jorbe went on? That the three of them were just part of the clean up?” She asked.

 

Tey traded a look with Soresh, and then tried to frame his thoughts, separating his personal feelings from his work mindset. "I began following up on your uncle's old squad because I was taking a good look at Jorbe's life before he went to Shogun. You were trained as an investigator, you know that some murders happen because someone developed a grudge a surprisingly long time ago, and then suddenly went ballistic and acted on it. Jilted sweethearts, former employees nursing a grievance, etc."

 

He met her eyes. "And yes, my brain starts trying to figure out what the implications are when men who knew Jorbe, a man whose murderers were reported to have been quite brutal, have vanished and then later turn up as corpses that look like someone used them as study cadavers while they were still breathing." He nodded. "Especially since it seemed confined to people who had worked with Jorbe's former mission commander and friend."

 

Tey felt her ramp down, as she considered the implications. Her mind was back to screaming what her instincts, and if she was willing to admit it, the Force, had been telling her all a long. She was the reason so many, including her parents, were killed.

 

Soresh laid a hand on her shoulder, concerned. "Mird'ika, I remember that look. What are you thinking?" His voice was gentle.

 

Tey half expected her to physically pull away from the touch, since she felt prickly through their bond, but she didn't. "Anything you think might help?"

 

"Just the paranoid thoughts of someone who's suspected she was responsible for her parents death for years now considering the implications of these others." Her voice was cold. She gave a short snort of disbelief.

 

"You can't blame yourself. It was a risk they accepted when they signed on for the mercenary life" Soresh offered.

 

Mirdala looked sharply between the two of them. "My family and the people they were able to attach to the raid that brought me to them all being systematically hunted, tortured, killed -- how can I not feel somewhat guilty Soresh? Have they stopped? Are they still out there looking? Are there others still in danger because of some tenuous connection to me? Were my parents the first? How did they find us in the first place?” She shrugged off his hand and began pacing fiercely.

 

Soresh shrugged slightly, unsure how to answer but willing to try. "I don't know how you stop feeling guilty, Mirdala, but I know you should try. You were a little girl, not an adult who willfully betrayed people you care about. And I meant it when I said it's a risk you take when you get into soldiering. Doesn't make it right, but it's guys who thought being violent for money was worth the risk. At least try not to think of them in the same light as some dirt-scrabble farmer who doesn't have a violent urge in their whole body." He nodded. "You can still get angry for what happened, natural enough. I am, and I don't even remember most of them. But I also know that I can't get too angry, because then it clouds my sense of responsibility and might make ot harder for me to treat these guys with the respect they earned. Or trip me up when I'm sifting data looking the people who started this."

 

"And as for your questions," TeVerd said levelly. "No, I think these were the first."

 

Mirdala stopped pacing and sighed. "You're right Sor'ika. Getting angry won't help change the past." She looked back to the graves, then added, "If these were the first, then that pretty much confirms that I was the target, at least in this. So then following that line of logic, BakToid or one of their competitors who found out about their experiments and wanted to get their hands on the specimen that proved successful?"

 

"Speaking of which, Mird'ika," Soresh said. "If you can make the time, I'd like to hear your side of what happened back then." He shrugged. "I don't have access to everything the Protectors have from that, includes most of the eyewitness reports." He pointed to Prentiss. "I almost got more from your partner here, who did have statements from some of the on-site investigators and recovery efforts."

 

Mirdala shook her head. “Taen shut me down before I even got started. I doubt he’ll hand those over to anyone, even you Soresh."

 

“I can imagine it would raise some flags for a CorSec anti-piracy constable to come along asking questions about a murder on another world that happened a decade ago,” TeVerd said sensibly.

[Moon Knight]

More dead, Fett thought as he listened. While he did so, he put together a few more pieces about who everyone was. It sounded like Soresh was the son of Erich, one of Jorbe's old team mates that had been on the mission during which Mirdala had been discovered and adopted. Mirdala had mentioned Erich before as a sort of uncle to her, which explained her close ties to Soresh. Prentiss was more of a mystery, and he got the sense that Soresh didn't know who the man was either except that he had been a hunt partner of hers at some point or another. Fett didn't really have any guesses as to when, but he still only had the basic framework of a timeline of Mirdala's life.

 

The murders themselves reflected an extreme dedication to gra'tua. It took a psychopath to slowly hunt down everyone related to a job over the course of over twenty years. With his past as rather successful beroya, Fett knew how nearly impossible it was to track someone down after the trail had gone cold. The galaxy was just too shabla big. He supposed it wasn't so hard when the person didn't know they were being hunted, especially if they advertised themselves as ver'verde, but to hold a grudge for that long clearly reflected a dar'jetiise-like level of obsession.

 

At any rate, Soresh did a good job of heading off Mirdala's guilt. She'd just been an ik'aad when this all started... and was a victim of all this just as the kyr'adyc were.

 

When they started talking about Mirdala's account of the murder of her buire, Fett spoke up. "Tresha and I just talked her through her account last night. I could make you a copy of the recording," he offered, looking at Mirdala to make sure she didn't have any objections. He didn't mention Taen's data. It was his opinion that getting it into the hands of a few individuals who might have more puzzle pieces could expedite matters, but it wasn't his call. He didn't have that much that Mirdala hadn't remembered anyway.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Mirdala smiled at him, grateful that she wouldn’t have to go through recounting that tale again. “That sounds like a better plan. I’m getting rather tired of going through it over and over again.” She could feel him radiating comfort through their bond.

 

Prentiss looked at Kandor and nodded. “That would be helpful and could help close some gaps, even if this isn’t the case we’ve been assigned to."

 

“About that,” she began, “I think that I’ve got a lead.” She looked past TeVerd to Soresh. “Do you remember our old training partner, Fieyr?"

 

“Your House Guest? The one that attacked us?” His jaw shifted as he remembered. “I still don’t remember much about it other than getting to the glen and seeing Cabur riled up and you trying to fight him off of you."

 

“Yes. TeVerd left with him while Carid saw to me. I don’t honestly know what happened to him and I haven’t spared a thought in his direction until just now. If TeVerd didn’t kill him, then he fits as someone who intimately knows his and Carid's hunting techniques and has a grudge against them and others like them. What do you remember of him and Carid?” She wasn’t sure that Soresh knew much about what the Seekers did or what abilities they possessed, so she didn’t want to tell him more at that moment.

 

Soresh shrugged, confused. "Very elite exclusive hunters, They only took on High-priced, high-challenge factor Hunts. They made good money on it, but it wore them out, because they always took a long break between hunts.”

 

“They weren’t the only ones that took the particularly dangerous hunts on. Fieyr wanted to be one, but, I think, lacked the maturity or patience required. That’s why TeVerd and Carid wouldn’t train them, or us in those techniques. Those are the people being hunted now."

 

Soresh looked like he was about to respond, but his own comm beeped and he excused himself to take it.

 

She looked at TeVerd/Prentiss, trying to gauge his reaction, but he’d had decades of practice guarding his emotions both in the empathic stream and the outward expression of such feelings. She wondered what he wasn’t telling her.

 

Soresh returned a moment later, “I’m being recalled to my contract with CorSec.” The look on his face showed that it was something he’d hoped wouldn’t happen for a while and that he’d be able to help a bit more before he’d had to go. “Apparently there’s been another uptick in local Piracy activity and it’s all-hands. I’m sorry I can’t stay Mird’ika."

 

“I understand. Stay safe out there.”

 

“You too. All of you.” He tossed the keys over to Prentiss. “Stay as long as you need."

[Moon Knight]

Fett finished packaging up his recording of Mirdala's account of the murders and beamed the data over to Soresh via short range tight-band transmission as the other man was turning to leave. It was about the most secure form of communication short of actually handing him a physical data chip. "K'oyacyi," he said.

 

He turned back to Mirdala and Prentiss. There was definitely some hidden subtext going on between them, the way Mirdala had kept glancing over at him even while addressing Soresh. It made sense that he had also been the one on the commlink that she had spoken to in their old form of Mando'a. Unfortunately, he still didn't even have a guess at what it was, and they were being pretty tight-lipped about it, so he just accepted it for now.

 

Kandor supposed now they just needed the rest of the team to show up and they could get to work.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

The next several days the trio spent time training together and getting used to one another as the other half of their team gathered intel for their mission. The entire time communication with their counterparts was either done directly with Mirdala via her implant, or via audio or written data itself.

 

In those days Kandor learned that Mirdala was the lead on the case, but would likely defer to Rhys, her remote XO who currently held more of the picture than she did when it time for the actual operation. Mainly it was because she wanted to investigate what was left of the crash site and facility first hand and couldn’t command the operation from the ground.

 

Their destination was Abraxos, the same world where Hwulf and TeVerd had met their end months before. It was a place to start looking for what connections could be made to where the mercenaries had gone, hopefully leading to tracking down Fieyr. Intelligence said the base on the planet had gone unoccupied for a long enough period that it should be safe to check out.

 

Mirdala had spent a great deal of time working on a program specifically designed to be able to retrieve information from a wiped drive, often working long into the night in the Ad’Nort’s barn. She’d thought it best for the two of them to continue to stay on Laesha’s farm, mainly out of courtesy to her aunt since Mirdala didn’t know what the future would hold after this mission. The other half of the truth was that she wasn’t up to feeling the need to explain her sharing a bed with her hunt partner to TeVerd, especially not when she still wasn’t certain what she wanted of or could give to the relationship herself.

 

Working late also kept her mind from venturing too near the fact that Kandor would be meeting her brothers soon, or at least those among the Omicrons that counted her as such, perhaps one or two of the others as well. The relationships were so new to her, she was still worried about doing anything to push any of them away. Bringing Kandor into the midst of things felt more like a time bomb waiting to go off.

 

She reassured herself that, above anything else, those men were consummate professionals. The chances were slim they’d toss him out an airlock, she hoped. Honestly the more she thought about it the more it knotted up her stomach. There was always the option to warn him, but then that felt like a betrayal to the other half of the family she swore to protect.

 

It’d gotten her so worked up one night that TeVerd had actually called her via her implant channel to discuss the matter.

 

You’re in command and you’re the one that decided to bring him along, knowing what you do about them. His voice was level and his tone reminded her of when she was younger and he was running her through a battle scenario. You can figure out the best way to handle it. I have faith in you Dika.

 

She knew he was right. It was a problem she had to solve and solve in a way that wouldn’t unneccesarily cause the team to be unbalanced.

 

The answer is staring you right in the face. Just give your mind time to work and you’ll get there. She had to admit having him back around did help her feel more grounded with things. But don’t take too long to make up your mind, they’ll be arriving tomorrow. Prentiss out. Then he went and gave answers like that.

 

She returned to the stead from the wooded path where she’d fielded the call. It was hard guarding so many secrets, it added unnecessary complexity to an already complicated set of problems. Keeping her word on both fronts was paramount to her and as she set foot on the gravel path to the barn it suddenly came to her.

 

Everyone on this mission had an identity to protect save her. Asking Kandor to be ready to fight in the refitted rig would be asking him to go into the mission crippled. Throwing another clone at her team wouldn’t be a welcome addition, but she knew that Kandor would be an asset rather than a detriment, whatever the personal feelings of the Omicrons were. This mission would be bucket’s on as an extra security measure.

 

She seemed more relaxed as she mounted the steps to the loft where she found Kandor reading over one of the intelligence reports of the moon Rhys had sent over earlier that day. “You were probably already planning on it, but you should wear your usual rig on this mission. I figure for the sake of everyone, buckets on is a good measure to protect us all. We’ll be pre-staging tomorrow then leaving out at first light the day after.”

[saberforce]

Tros spent a few days caught between staring at Riella's stuff and the medallion that his ori'vod had been given from their buir. It seemed strangely familiar to him, yet he could not place what world or culture it may have come from. He spent a good amount of his time alone with his thoughts as he just simply wondered and pondered about the meaning of it. He wondered why Riella had it. He wondered why his father had it. He wondered what it meant to him, his father, if it had any meaning at all. After his third day, he left the yaim of Riella and began to find Brexton. He found him in one of the local watering holes. He didn't bother to greet him with a familiar sense that he usually would. Instead, he was straight to the point.

 

"Where the haran did this come from?!"

 

Brexton didn't flinch or respond right away. He finished his sip that he was taking of his tihaar, then turned and took the medallion from his hands and looked at it. He looked at it for all of around two seconds before he placed it on the bar table.

 

"Dathomir. Those fierfek witches on that planet have tribes. This belongs to one of them..."

 

Tros was slight confused and shocked that Brexton was able to know exactly where it came from within a second of looking at it. Carefully, he picked it up and placed it in his pocket as he looked out into nothing and thought for a moment before responding to Brexton.

 

"Those that hate males... this will get interesting. Why exactly did Riella have it?"

 

"Your buir Tros. It belonged to him. Riella believed he held onto it because he may have had other children past you. You may not be the youngest of clan Ardell. There could be ash'ad."

 

Tros looked out of a window for a second, then nodded his head and began to leave the bar. Brexton called back at him asking where he was going. Tros responded with a single word.

 

"Oya'karir"

 

Tros then collected his things, and left the planet.

[Moon Knight]

ShadowFett had taken his time getting used to the team over the last few days. His own beskar'gam and the technology he frequently used were clearly and very practically optimized for running solo -- he used 360-degree vision and penetrating radar to effectively enable himself to watch his own back, he had an always-on uplink to 2277 for tactical appraisal and assistance in threat identification, he went into places prepared with maps and other data he could call up on his buy'ce's HUD, and he carried a variety of weapons to handle different combat scenarios. He had on occasion run with small teams before during his days with Black Sun and the Augury, and had led a CoreSec team on Nubia, but beyond those isolated instances, he had always been solo or with a single hunt partner.

 

He'd even gone so far as to make solo incursions into hostile Centerpoint Station and the Death Star. Even on Nubia, he had helped his team set up but once the fighting started he'd hunted on his own.

 

But never had he had such talented and reliable individuals in his traat'aliit as he had now. He quickly found himself adjusting what he expected from team members as he found that Prentiss was extremely well trained and clearly very experienced, and Mirdala's own skills started to shine as she was in better physical and mental health than she had been for most of their previous partnership. Through the assignment of combat roles and positions he quickly found that they could optimize the performance of the unit well beyond what he had experienced before. Simply put, he found it nice to be working with other professionals, rather than the mixes of cops and criminals he'd often been forced to make do with in the past. As soon as he got used to that idea, he found that he could excel in whatever role he was assigned thanks to countless hours of training and fundamentals tempered by decades of hard contact... and that was even before factoring in the Moon Knight memories, which expanded his effective combat experience to orders of magnitude beyond what any other human could manage in a lifetime.

 

Prentiss really was something else though, probably the best soldier Fett had encountered. He didn't fail to notice profound similarities between Prentiss' combat style and fundamentals and Mirdala's own, and he hypothesized that Prentiss had at one point been part of Mirdala's training. He wasn't sure how it all fit together, but he trusted that if it became important he would find out. Prentiss was very standoffish, and to Kandor he seemed like a man who was carrying old secrets. In a way it reminded him of his buir.

 

Presently he frowned briefly before shrugging. "Sure thing," he said. He'd almost thought it had gone without saying, which meant Mirdala was bringing the issue up for a reason. He'd be somewhat more recognizable in his usual beskar'gam, but it wasn't clear how the others would feel about having ShadowFett along, so maybe that was a factor. "I think we're in pretty good shape, you have a talented team."

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

“Anonymity, or at least relative anonymity, means less to get compromised if something goes sideways,” she pointed out as crawled into bed beside him.

 

“To be frank, they are some of the best men I’ve ever worked with. Highly skilled and professional as well. I guess…I guess I’m just nervous about the mission,” she admitted as she rested her head on the pillow with her arm resting on her forehead. “My mind keeps rolling over scenario after scenario…” She sighed again. “I guess I should be more worried if I wasn’t nervous about the whole thing. Complacency will get you, or, worse yet, your team killed. Tresha always says that I worry and over-think too much."

[Moon Knight]

Kandor nodded as he lay down next to her. "There's definitely a balance there," he agreed. "Think about it too little and you go in unprepared, but start second-guessing yourself and you can take steps backwards. Remember, though, you're not in this alone, Mird'ika -- you have your whole traat'aliit confident in your leadership, and you can trust us to keep it together if things go sideways. If there were any concerns we'd mention them."

 

Plus, they all knew the risks and we're going in full steam ahead. He himself would be out there putting his neck on the line purely as a volunteer, no pay involved. If that wasn't confidence he didn't know what was.

 

Over his career he'd slowly learned to quiet his nerves to the point where he didn't usually get pre-combat jitters anymore. He knew how to turn himself off and focus on doing what he did best, and if death came, he would face it like an ori'ramikad. But this time he didn't just have to worry about himself, and that set him on edge, no matter how good the rest of the team was.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Mirdala took one more deep breath as she relaxed against him. “You’re right. We’ll just take things one phase at a time and adapt as we need to.” She leaned up on her elbow and kissed him briefly on the lips. “Thanks,” she smiled before resting her head back against his chest. It wasn’t long before he could feel her body fully give itself over to sleep as her breathing slowed and became deeper.

--------

Despite her self-doubt the previous night, Mirdala seemed to be much more her confident-self the next morning as she double-checked some of the program additions the remote team had included in their latest draft. She glanced at Kandor as she did one last check of her go-bag and offered him another smile. She was beginning to fall into her battle-calm as though his encouragement and the familiar actions of checking and re-checking gear had helped her find her focus.

 

She’d realized something, just before she’d fallen asleep. If Kandor was going to continue to be part of her life, his paths would cross with the Omicrons eventually. It was useless wasting energy worrying when and where it was going to occur. Whatever their personal feelings, they were professional soldiers and would behave as such (she hoped). They didn’t have to like him to work with him, though it would make things easier. It wasn’t as though they didn’t know that she was in a relationship him before she even knew about them. It was far more likely to be a shock to him, especially considering she’d questioned him about his resemblance to Delta.

 

They had one more breakfast with the Ad’Norts and Laesha made sure to send along plenty of food for the rest of the day as well as the rest of the team. True to form, she likely sent too much food, but Mirdala didn’t have the heart to tell her that. They could always take it with them, avoiding battle rations and supplies for as long as possible. The trifecta of Mandalorian cooking was portability, longevity, and high caloric intake to keep the soldiers going.

 

They’d stopped by Vannae’s shop to pick up what they’d left with the ship, including Mirdala’s mobile armor repair kit and the tools she’d brought with her from Enigma. It wasn’t long before they were pulling up to Soresh’s farm where there were already four figures moving between two ships as they went over systems and stowed gear.

 

Mirdala felt his menacing presence before she saw him.

 

Osik, she thought to herself as she somehow managed to carefully reign in her shock. They had to bring Rahg!? I really hope this isn’t Rhys’s idea of a sick joke.

 

She was grateful for the fact she had her helmet on already since she didn’t have to bother to hide the irritation on her face. Rahg being here put her more on guard than she would have been had it been Vy’ika, Nek, or hell, she’d even take Dahls over Rahg any day.

 

Still, she’d trusted Rhys and TeVerd with the logistics since they knew what skill sets would be needed and who was actively available to go along on this quickly assembled mission. She still had a hard time trusting him, especially since he was a Seeker that adhered to the “take the Force-User out as quickly as possible and ask questions later” philosophy of the ethos. To Rahg, all Force Users, including her, were a threat to the system. Her relationship to TeVerd and the idea of having to go through more than a few of his brothers to get to her were the only reasons she was still breathing. Unbidden, the memory of her first meeting with the man sprang up in her mind as they pulled up the drive.

 

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

Coruscant, Safehouse Bravure, Seven Months Prior

 

Mirdala stirred, feeling emotionally drained, but most of all, hungry. She disconnected the few monitors they'd hooked up to monitor her brainwaves for any sign of any resurgence in the empathic entity that had possessed her mid-transit from the Sivaara estate, several hours prior.

 

Stretching, she stood and gained her bearings more clearly. This wasn't the safe zone she was used to, or at least not a part of it that she'd seen yet. Still, her own sense of where she was told her this was a new location. She wasn't sure if it was the Force, or if this section’s grav-regulators were a bit lighter than the city sectors she was used to, but she definitely got the impression that this was some place new.

 

As she processed through the last few days events she allowed herself to slip beneath the stream of emotions around her, seeking solitude and silence so she could recenter herself before interacting with her team. She still felt extremely off-balance and Dahls’s accusation of her actually being some sort of plant being lent credence by the episode did little to help her state of mind.

 

Her stomach grumbled again and she finally gave up, heading for the door which silently slid open. At least I'm not on strict lock-down, she thought a little surprised that the chair just outside her door was vacated, but a quick glance down the hallway showed a light coming from an open doorway.

 

From the sound of the keys clacking, she guessed it had to be one of the “spooks". She took a deep breath and strode past the door, knowing that to attempt to sneak past would only further suspicions against her.

 

Mirdala was about another meter down the corridor before she realized that whoever was in there wasn't coming to stop her. She hadn't seen that Viscount had ducked to retrieve a data chip that had fallen to the floor the same instant she walked past.

 

Relying on instincts and the pull of her stomach, Mirdala eventually found the kitchen. As she fixed herself a sandwich, she began to wonder where the others had gone. Had they simply left her to Viscount's care as they made their own preparations in regards to her testing?

 

She didn't hear the footfalls behind her, but rather felt the nudge in her own instincts, rather than through the Force, a little more than just the feeling that she was being watched. Calmly she put away the supplies, her back still to whoever had entered. She knew it couldn't be Rhys, Vy'ika, Viscount, or even Orsai or Uliik. They would have announced themselves, or probably chastised her for not calling when she woke.

 

Slowly she turned around to face a clone she knew she hadn't met before, his body language betraying that he was likely not one who looked upon her as aliit, or even traat’aliit’ad. He was bulkier than his brothers, taller and more imposing. "Rahg," she finally managed as she placed a name she'd heard with a face she hadn't yet met.

 

He cocked his head at her, one eyebrow raised in curiosity. She could feel slight empathic probes, as he seemed to be measuring her up.

 

“Su'cuy, Aruetii?" He asked her finally, in a soft half-growl that she was familiar with from some of the others. She had the sense that he didn't mean it as a greeting, but truly wondered why she was still alive.

 

"Yes, I'm Rahg. You understand what I am?" He asked.

 

She could feel him. No passions, no angers. Nothing but pure disciplined menace.

 

"You really shouldn't be wandering around these safe zones without an escort, you know." He simply stood there, watching her, gaging her.

 

Hostile would be putting it mildly, she thought to herself as she reached out to feel where the others were.

 

She didn't need her Force-sensitivity to tell her how dangerous the man in front of her was and the last thing she wanted to do was to come to blows with an armored opponent again, especially while she was unarmed and unarmored herself. However, it wasn't in her nature to back down either. She could tell that nudging the others for help wouldn't do any good because by the time they arrived, whatever was going to play out would have already happened.

 

"You're here to kill me if I prove to be a threat to you and your brothers," she said unflinchingly as she watching him as she made her way to the table, careful to remain as non-threating as possible.

 

"That's what Rhys expects, anyways. I'd prefer to just kill all of your Force-using kind, actually. I've rarely met one that I thought should live." He paused. "They can't save you, you know. Not Orsai, not Rhys, not even that psychopath Vy'ika."

 

He seemed to be listening inside his own head. "Right now, I just don't feel you're worth having a fight in this aliit."

 

"So, by eliminating me because I'm Force-sensitive, you'd be removing the cause of the fight? I can't help the way I was born any more than you can Rahg." She replied between bites, her own voice becoming cold and hard.

 

"If I prove to be a threat, I won't ask to be saved." Mirdala was growing weary about having to defend the fact she was born Force-sensitive. She'd never made claim to be anything other than Mando’ad. She'd been raised better than to subsume others with any sort of arrogance or superiority that usually became the downfall of Force-users of either philosophy, and she'd be lying if she didn't resent being lumped in with the rest of them. Slowly and cautiously she diminished her own Force signature, as well as her empathic connection, not wanting him to misinterpret her harshness as a challenge.

 

"No. I'd be removing another Force-user." He turned his head, looking over his shoulder. "As for not asking to be saved...We'll see." He turned slightly, hands in the small of his back, giving Mirdala a glimpse of the marks on his forearm before he strode off into the darkness of the hallway.

 

Mirdala silently watched him leave as she finished her meal, not quite able to shake the chill that had crept up her spine. His armor bore the same Seeker marks that TeVerd's armor bore.

 

A few moments later, Viscount stuck his head in the door, looking wary.

 

"Was one of my brothers in here?" He asked her softly. "Are you alright?"

 

"Still breathing, though Rahg made it clear he would rather I wasn't."

 

"Ah." Viscount said, deadpan. "I expected as much. Just stared you down, did he? I bet you're wondering just who the haran Rahg really is."

 

Mirdala thought about it for a minute, then realized that Viscount had read her perfectly. "Same as Tey...only not as choosy about the Force Users he takes out. Did Ori’vod train him to be like that?" She wondered how TeVerd would handle it if he'd realized that he'd trained the one who would so easily kill her, especially if she failed the tests to come.

 

Viscount looked at her, and she knew he was conflicted about revealing family secrets, even to someone he might not consider a threat. She knew that he was withholding judgment about her, basing every one of his conclusions on facts, not possibilities. He walked to the chiller and hunted around, pulling out a bottle and popping the cap off as he measured his thoughts.

 

After taking a swig from the bottle he looked at her. "Yes, from the wide circle of the same ethos as your ori’vod, or buir, however you wish to think of him. But, you have the rest of that wrong." He paused.

 

"You know the Ruus’alor well enough to know that he rarely, if ever, enjoys the company of indiscriminate killers. Do you you truly think that he would train someone to become the kind of Hunter that would take a life with such a flimsy excuse as having Force sensitivity?"

 

At her confused look, he went on. "TeVerd, in his lifetime, as best we have been able to ascertain, has trained exactly three people with some of the skills necessary to actively engage or disengage from Force users, beyond what we learned in regards to being able to use our racial heritage."

 

"Dahls has some, Rhys has more than Dahls,” he nodded at her, “and I suspect you're in parity with Rhys. Perhaps a shade more. You would need to be, to survive if TeVerd were ever killed." She noted an undercurrent of hardness in the last sentence.

 

He took a drink from his bottle, wetting his lips and his throat. Then, he crossed his arms. "Rahg, however, is one of the less inspired ideas TeVerd's father has had since we've known him and he's known us."

 

Mirdala nodded, wondering if that was another reason that Dahls didn't like her, because she likely knew more he did about all of Tey's tricks when it came to dealing with Force Users. She tried not to think about what training such a man as Rahg said about her ba’buir.

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

Present

 

Instead she focused on those she was grateful to see, like Aliise, Rhys’s adopted son who was heading towards them now to help unload on their end. Mirdala nodded to him, unsure of how she should be addressing him, when he spoke up in introduction to Kandor.

 

“Aliise, glad to finally meet the rest of the team.” He shook Kandor’s hand before turning to Mirdala to fill her in. “Dad, Rahg, and Prentiss are busy doing diagnostics, though I think Rahg is more interested in cleaning his kit and sharpening his besk’ad.”

 

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me in the least,” Mirdala muttered as she hefted one of the bags of power packs and ammunition over the side of the speeder and into his arms. “Just us then?"

 

He nodded. “Smaller teams make for easier insertions and it’s always better to have more people to pull you out if things go south."

 

“True. We’ll meet for breakfast and debrief in ten. In the mean time, you and Kandor can finish unloading while I have a word with your father."

 

“Yes, ma’am,” he shifted the bag to his shoulder and gave her a quick salute before returning to where the ships were being loaded. “He’s in the barn checking the tech we brought. Figured it’s better to keep it out of the dust.”

 

She waved a quick “thanks” and headed off in the direction of the barn.

[Moon Knight]

Fett was back in his black beskar'gam and had to admit he was relieved to have access to his own tech again. There was no doubt that the other suit was a very fine set of armor, but one of his primary philosophies regarding going into battle was that every affordable advantage should be gained before entering the fray; there were a lot of things worth less than staying alive.

 

As he helped unload and then headed to breakfast, he met the rest of the team, though everyone kept their buy'cese on. One of the advantages of everyone having distinctive armor was that there was no confusion about who was who, thankfully. There was Rhys, Mirdala's XO whose advice she seemed quite willing to take; Rhys' ad Aliise, who like his buir treated Mirdala as aliit; and Rahg, who... well, didn't seem quite right to Kandor. The way he moved and the recognizable Seeker markings on his arm plates told Fett that he was an excellent verd, but the way he spoke made him sound borderline unstable. He made a mental note to keep an eye on Rahg, but he doubted Mirdala and Rhys would have brought him along if he was a liability.

 

To each he introduced himself as Kandor Nor'an, but in his black beskar'gam it was likely that they already knew who he was, and along with that the fact that he was Mand'alor. Whether bringing his reputation in was beneficial or not he didn't yet know.

 

Breakfast was quick but calorie-dense and everything fit beneath their buckets, so skraan was eaten with them on and it was on to briefing.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Rhys looked up from the data pad that was sitting on a crate between him and TeVerd. “Where’s your partner?"

 

“Unloading with Aliise. Figured we’d brief over breakfast in ten or so, besides I wanted a chance to get your feel for things first,” she said tapping into their shared channel and the data pad’s feed.

 

“I hope he’s not hell-bent on going in with you,” Rhys said levelly, glancing at TeVerd. “Or you with him. Reviewing the current personnel and assets, I don’t think his the best choice to have your back once you’re in the facility.

 

“Not that he hasn’t proven himself more than capable,” TeVerd interjected as he felt Mirdala’s spike of interest. “He’s just not the most suited for the task at hand compared to some of the others here.”

 

“You don’t expect Rahg to watch my back, do you?” The two of them didn’t need to see her face or feel her signature to know her expression. “When were you planning on telling me he was joining our little ‘field trip'?"

 

“Now,” Rhys remarked, unflappable.

 

TeVerd said nothing but she could feel him studying her, gauging her reaction.

 

“Fine. Any other pleasant surprises I should know of Rhys?” she asked crossing her arms and tilting her head to the side.

 

“Just your Life Day present here,” he handed her the data slate containing the intel and a small pack of microprobes similar to the ones that she’d been given by Viscount. They were extremely advanced tech that one of them, somewhere in their massive network of contacts, had managed to secure. It was just what was needed for the mission.

 

She sighed, looking over the intel and Rhys’s report. “Do you think it’s too much of a risk to bring him?” she asked in earnest.

 

“His CoreSec standing does present a bit of a sticky issue, whether or not he’s being ‘actively’ CoreSec,” Rhys began. “If you do decide to bring him, having him on my team wouldn’t present an issue since I’ll be overseeing things since your headed plane-side. That keeps him out of all sorts of potential trouble with his employer. I know he’s worked extraction before.”

 

She felt him nudge her gently within their bond as TeVerd clasped a hand on her shoulder.

 

“Then you’re with me,” she placed her hand over TeVerd’s. “You’re the one that’s been there before and pretty much taught me most of what I know about systems retrieval. Rahg, Aliise, Rhys and Kandor are on standby if we can’t bang out of there ourselves fast enough.”

 

The two men nodded their agreement.

 

“And our latest intel confirms no one’s been back to the base since they packed up after the ambush?"

 

“We’ll still be getting it en route, but all sources currently point to the facility’s abandonment.” Rhys answered

 

“Let’s hope it stays that way.” She said as she turned to leave the barn.

 

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

 

Mirdala briefed them on the general plan over their breakfast. She and Prentiss would be the ones to insert on to Abraxos and access the mercenary facility to recover what intel they could from the abandoned computer banks. Their goal was to find enough of pieces that they could begin to map out additional leads for tracking their quarry, or at the very least.

 

Initial scans showed the facility hadn’t appeared to be active in many months, but they were taking precautions by keeping the insertion team as small and mobile as possible. Prentiss would be covering Mirdala while she worked and, in the unfortunate event she was incapacitated, would take over running the program or completing the uplink to get as much of the data out as possible to the extraction team made up of Kandor, Rahg, and Aliise. Rhys would be directing the mission mainly due to his past experience in these types of operations.

 

They’d take two vessels, small and nimble assault ships that could quickly bang out or stand their own in a fight if it came to it.

 

“Any questions or things you feel I’ve overlooked?” she finally asked.

[Moon Knight]

I suppose that's fair, ShadowFett thought, glad his buy'ce hid his initial frown long enough for him to consider the factors that went into assigning the teams. They clearly wanted a very small insertion team in the hopes that they would be able to slip in without everyone knowing they were there; Mirdala was the obvious choice to get into the systems and procure the data, and Fett had a way of drawing unwanted attention. It made him vaguely uneasy to think that he wouldn't be able to watch Mirdala's back directly on the surface, particularly as her current hunt partner, but she was more than equal to the task and Prentiss had the skills to keep her clear if there was something there and it came to a firefight. He could admit to himself that he was a little bit protective of her, but he also respected her abilities and wouldn't allow his feelings to interfere with the operation.

 

At any rate, if there was going to be a big fight it was going to be during extraction, and they would have all their manpower there either way. If the fighting was too heavy early, they would just have to bas'lan shev'la empty handed. And chances were good that the facility was actually deserted and there wouldn't be a fight at all.

 

When the team was addressed for comment, Kandor simply shook his head.

 

The assault ships they'd procured for the attack were not Mandalorian craft -- that would be a bit overt -- but were rather older Imperial models that were still good at their function. Mirdala and Prentiss would make their initial approach in a Delta-class escort shuttle, and the other four would bring a Sentinel-class landing craft which was particularly good at clearing an LZ and extraction point as well as being a mobile ops center, not to mention being easily large enough to carry all of them if the shuttle had to be abandoned.

 

All in all a straightforward plan. ShadowFett honestly hoped it would go off without a hitch, but knew if the data they were looking for was there, it meant their enemies were either negligent or were guarding it. And they hadn't struck him as the negligent types.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

It hadn’t surprised her that none of them had anything to add, but she hadn’t missed the subtle drop in Kandor’s shoulders when she’d given the assignments. If they hadn’t spent as much time around each other, especially as they had of late, the minute action would have been missed. Even though he wasn’t empathic himself, she could still sense his disappointment on some level.

 

For the sake of her own mindset she knew that she had to set her feelings for him aside to focus on memorizing as much of the data Rhys had provided to her based on TeVerd’s memories and their scans of the facility. After having done it once before, so many months ago, she thought it would have been easier than it was. This time it seemed infinitely harder, but she managed it.

 

It took them less time to load up than she’d figured and they’d opted to move up their time table since there’d be nearly two days of down time as they headed to the Mechis system.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

A few days later, after their return to Soresh’s farm on Concord Dawn, she and Tey were sitting together under one of the larger trees when she broached the subject. “I’ve been thinking about what you said about me being out of practice and what Fieyr’s been learning over the last decade."

 

Tey glanced at her and shrugged. "You had what you thought were really good reasons to shut yourself down. Problem is, just because you can't access it didn't mean you weren't going to find yourself in a fight again."

 

"There's still no guarantee I won't again. I need you to teach me how to fight him like you do."

 

He faced her, his expression carefully neutral. "You want Seeker training."

 

"Yes. I'm your hunt partner and I have to be able to have your back. We're dealing with another Ageless that has some of the same training and, at the very least, dark side Force users. By keeping those skills from me you're sending me into battle with both hands tied behind my back. Knee strikes will only get me so far." She met his gaze levelly, trying to get a read on him. Surely he'd seen this conversation coming?

 

All she could sense was fear and protectiveness, and she wasn't sure, but perhaps pain. "I could aways take Rhys along, and let you handle the other part of the battle," He said, voice low.

 

He paused, holding up his hand before she could launch into a protest. "I could, but that wouldn't be fair to either of you. I have to give you your own choices. But you need to prove to me you understand what you're asking for, besides a claim that I'm sending you into situations you can't handle."

 

“I remember the mission that I wasn’t supposed to come along on and how easily the demagolka was able to slip into my mind. I remember using what you taught me afterwards to defend myself from Fieyr when he first tried to mind-dive me. It was your training that helped me to defeat a Sith Cultist when I was barely sixteen. And you didn’t ‘send’ me anywhere. I was the one that chose to take the lead.” She paused, “And you’re right. It isn’t really fair to keep dragging Rhys into these things and away from his family. You are all I have and I want to be able to have your back.” She knew that the last statement wasn’t entirely true, she had Kandor as well, but that wasn’t the point of the current conversation.

“As for making sure I know what I’m getting into,” she hesitated, taking a moment to truly consider what she was asking of him. “It’s the ability to tap into the darker part of myself and leverage it against those that threaten our sector, but come out the other side as myself and not the monsters we hunt. You’re scared of my turning to the dark side because of sacrificing too much of myself in the name of the mission. Whether you meant to or not Tey, you trained me to be your legacy. I know too well the dangers of losing yourself. I learned it by being there for you as a reminder why you’ve made the lonely sacrifices you did in the name of your duty."

"I don't want you turning into a duty focused sociopath like Rahg or some of the other Seekers, and I definitely don't want you becoming me," He growled. "We Seekers, to be who we are, we sometimes must become a new breed of Monster. Not what we Hunt, but almost as bad in our own way. And if a Seeker were to ever lose themselves, then the galaxy would likely regret it dearly before they could be brought to heel." He paused. “I know, because I've had to do it. I've brought my own kind to heel before. I've sent lost Seekers to their graves."

 

“If there’s one thing that I’ve learned from you, it was to be true to who I was, even if I had to be careful in how I expressed myself. I know there’s more to this than duty. You have to remember why you’re doing it otherwise you loose to the monster. I’ve had several good examples to look to - You, Hwulf, Carid, Rhys - at least half of whom have raised families that gave meaning to their life rather than just moving from hunt to hunt. You’ve given me choice in my life, Tey. That was the one thing that you always made sure that I had. Choice in who I became. I’m choosing to take on this challenge to defend the people that have protected me for so long. There are so few of them left. I can help. I want you to let me. I need you to train me."

 

Tey stood up and looked down at her for several, long moments. "You know, my father fought me about taking that Path, as well. I made the argument that to be a free man, I should be allowed to choose my own path, even if it was the wrong one." He studied her, face and emotions guarded. "You're right, it is your right to choose which path to take, and it's your right as my hunt partner to ask me to help you learn."

 

He crossed his arms. "Get yourself healthy, otherwise I won't train you. It damn near killed Rhys in the flush of his life, and almost damn near killed me when I started down the Path."

 

“I’m getting stronger everyday,” She said crossing her own arms. “I didn’t expect you to start training me until I was otherwise. I’ve grown up seeing the toll that it takes and that’s why I don’t ask this of you lightly…” She bit her lip, a sure sign that there was more going on in her mind.

 

“You do realize that you’re just as much my buir as Jorbe ever was?” she finally said at length, treading carefully into what she knew to be an even touchier subject. "Much of who I am I owe to you. We're bonded, you and I, but it goes beyond just that you were my teacher. It’s actually taken me a long time to be able to admit that without feeling like I was dishonoring the memory of my other buire."

 

"Are you sure you really want to try to have this discussion with me right after demanding I train you in the Seeker path," Tey asked her, his face a mask of carefully controlled emotions.

 

“You learned from your father.” She stated matter of factly then closed her eyes. “And how few quiet moments between the two of us have I had to bring it up and actually discuss it with you? I’m afraid if I don’t say what’s on my heart now, then I’ll keep making excuses for why it isn’t the right time for this or that.” She opened herself up more through their bond, trying to help him feel what was going through her mind as much as hear what she had to say.

 

“As hunt partners, we’re supposed to be honest with one another, right? Leaving this unsaid would have been something else to weigh down my mind. What was going through my mind when I called for extraction was that I couldn’t bear to lose another father - not mentor, teacher, or even older brother - but father. You can’t honestly tell me that the thought’s never ever crossed your mind about me, or any of the others.” She was pushing now and knew it.

 

"You’re there when we need you, you’ve led us by your example and we know you care for us in your own way. I’m not asking you to commit this second, but please, at least consider it. Whether you name us or not, we are your legacy with the galaxy. All I’m asking is that you at least consider honoring that bond.” She hugged him fiercely, ignoring the dull ache from her still-healing body.

 

For just a moment, Tey didn't see an experienced huntress. A mental image flashed in his mind of looking down at his gore-crusted chest through burning, irritated eyes, reaching down to a hidden pocket on one lower leg, pulling out a knife that might be the only tool he had to try to survive what had been done to him. A knife that had almost spoken to him, urging him to keep moving.

 

He also saw farther back. A small human form standing in his galley watching him quietly, wearing a much too large Journeyman Protector helmet, a worn green one with a gray visor outline and gold clawmarks angled across the front.

 

When he'd later agreed to train the child, he'd tried to guide her in the mold of the man who who'd given his all to warn his neighbors on Vorpa'aya about an incursion of Force users. The man's reward had been to be captured and tortured to death by the darksiders. He'd always hoped for a better outcome for her.

 

But in this instance of memory, the bucket had simply been a tool to help calm the fears of a scared little girl who'd quite simply wandered into his care, until he could return her to those who were responsible for her.

 

And then he saw a sea of small faces, marks showing with fear, looking up at him as he tried to explain fear to them.

 

Babs, this has to be all your fault! He thought to himself, finally closing his own arms around her.

 

After a few moments she pulled away, calmness flooding their bond. "I'm going to go help the others with dinner," she smiled at him before turning and walking back towards the house, respecting his privacy after having dropped both bombshells on him, by giving him time to think about what she'd said.

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

 

Tey stepped into the house with Rhys, talking in low tones.

 

When Mirdala looked at him and tried to search him in their bond, he gave her a sad smile. "Give me time, Little One, just that."

 

"Fair enough." She just managed to catch herself from adding “buir" to the end of her sentence. She did greet Rhys with a quick hug though. "Your timing is good, we were just about to eat. You staying long tonight Rhys?"

 

"A few hours," Her old XO said, smiling. "My son and his family are home, so I'm spending time with them while things are somewhat quiet. But I also didn't want to ignore this side of my family, and decided to come check on you and my brothers and our Sergeant in person. Glad to to see you're getting fighting fit." Mirdala had the sensation that Rhys knew all about her conversation with Tey.

 

"Working on it any way. Thanks again for getting us out of there."

"Are you going to just stay out there running your mouth or get back in here and finish what you started?" Rahg's form darkened the doorway to the kitchen as he growled at her, "I'm not minding your pots for you, Runt." He nodded to Rhys as Mirdala skirted past him back into the kitchen. "She's in an odd mood."

"Don't tell me you're starting to warm to her, Brother," Rhys teased, resting his helmet with the others.

 

The other man growled. "She's giving me a headache. Only reason I pulled her out of there is because she means something to Sarge. She's still dangerous." He shrugged jerkily. "Right now she's still on our side, though."

 

"Of course, of course," Rhys said soothingly. "That's why I keep wading into blaster fire to get to you, too, you know. Simply because you're on my side of the issues." Mirdala could feel his sarcastic fondness for his bulkier brother. She also felt the undercurrent of tolerance and calming that Rhys exuded towards Rahg, unlike how he felt when dealing with most others.

 

He laughed. "I also brought the Sarge some more robust gear than he's been wearing lately. Some armor fit for a Hunter, not that druse you lot are content with."

 

"Thanks for reminding me I need to get on repairing my own." Mirdala called from the kitchen as she brought out a covered pot of meat dumplings and sat it on the table. "You two could make yourselves useful by getting the settings up." She looked directly at TeVerd and Rhys. "Should be six unless Aliise is joining us as well. Kandor will be back from his supply run soon, then we'll eat."

 

"Aliise," Rhys said carefully. "Has found other plans for the night."

 

Mirdala paused for a moment looking at Rhys. Surely not…Briia? She wondered. The pair had met briefly when Mirdala had stopped by the Dawn Headquarters to hand off their mission report. Briia hadn’t stopped prodding her for information since. “They wouldn’t happen to involve a certain JP administrative officer would they?” She took a moment to consider if she actually wanted an answer. “No, on second thought, I don’t want to know…” and she turned and went back into the kitchen to finish up the rest of the meal.

 

As she retreated the sound of another speeder pulling up was heard in the yard. A few moments later, Kandor entered carrying a few parcels under one arm.

 

"Did you have a good day at the office, Dear?" Nek asked from where he was gathering plates.

 

“Really Nek?” she asked looking up at the doctor as she was pan-baking some of the dough Rahg had made. Still, she smiled, then frowned as she burned her fingers on the pan when flipping the bread. “Osik!” She waved her hand around for a few seconds before grasping it with her other to dissipate the heat.

 

“I burned my fingers on the pan,” she explained.

 

"Yes, indeed, you looks a little warmed over," Nek said mildly, coming over to her. He held out one hand to her. "May I see? I know a few things about injuries, you know." He checked her hand over carefully. "You need to focus on the immediate fire, Dika, not elsewhere." He laughed when he noticed the look he was getting from her.

 

"A little ice water, a wet wrap, you'll be fine. Well, it'll help your hand, anyway." He walked back out with the rest of the settings.

 

She shook her head, her cheeks still flushed. Rahg had seen fit to find the opportunity to make a hasty exit from the kitchen to leave Mirdala and her hunt-partner to their own devices.

 

“And he’s what you call a 'professional'…"

[Moon Knight]

Kandor sent Nekkir an admonishing but good-natured look. "Why yes, vor'e for asking, cyare," he joked, heading over to the counter to start unloading and putting away the skraan and other supplies he'd picked up.

 

When the others beat their hasty retreat, he opened a belt pouch and produced a small non-adhesive bandage and square of medical tape packaged together in a sterilized packet, feeling just a bit warm himself. He had to admit he took a little bit of pleasure from seeing her blush, and once she had run it under cold water for a moment he took her hand and delicately dressed the minor burn despite knowing she could do it herself. "There's going to be no living with him after this," he lamented, finishing the job before looking up to meet her eyes.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

She smiled at him, "I don't think there was before..."

------

As they were finishing setting the food out, Tey walked out of the refresher, now dressed in his more customary Insurgent armor. He was carrying the other armor in his arms, which he carefully piled by one wall.

 

"There, Rahg, these should fit you pretty good."

 

The other hunter nodded, still stirring dressing for the cut vegetables. "Vor'e, Sarge," He growled.

 

"And if they don't," Mirdala said entering the room with the basket of flat bread, followed closely by Kandor, "then I can rework them to fit you since I'm having to rebuild mine. I did start out life as a goran's child after all."

 

Rahg shook his head in both surprise and refusal. "I build my own rigs, thanks."

 

Mirdala shrugged. "Suit yourself. No pun intended. Now eat before it gets cold."

 

"Maybe," Tey said carefully. "Since you two are at least willing to admit you're on the same team, you can cooperate a little and go over all the rigs and gear we have on hand here, so everyone can be sure that gear won't fail when we need it?"

 

Nek looked up from ladeling out food. "I think I'd better help, just in case." He said, drily. "Mirdala is shockingly prone to accidents at home, it seems. As is Rahg in a dfferent sort of way."

 

Tey eyed the doctor for a bit, lips compressed.

 

"On that note," Rhys interjected, attempting to diffuse the situation before things spiraled out of control, "I think we should eat..."

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

Moonlight filtered in through the shed’s window as Mirdala leaned against the far wall eyeing the three diminishing mounds in the dimness. Her thoughts were running rampant over the last few weeks events and the anticipation of her upcoming training. Once Nek had cleared her to be able to wander on her own, she found herself drawn back to the hut and to the men that had died for the secret that her buire had unwittingly been keeping. In a lot of ways she felt mixed emotions over these men and their role in directing whoever murdered her buire to their small homestead on Shogun.

 

It was easier to come alone to be with those feelings rather than continue to broadcast them until the others, well Rahg mainly, would grumble and grouse. Somehow communing with these ghosts seemed to focus and calm her for some reason as of late. Tonight she needed the calm and to be away from the constant empathic "buzz" of the Omicrons.

[Moon Knight]

Kandor sauntered around the corner, taking in the evening air. When he saw Mirdala in the shed he walked over to join her. "Thought I might find you here," he said. "Bit crowded in there for my tastes."

 

He took a deep breath and let it out, absent-mindedly scratching the back of his head and staring out the door and into the largely-untamed land around them. "Data dive is mostly done, but I don't like our chances of finding anything immediately actionable in there. Given that it was a trap, I suppose we ought to consider ourselves lucky we got even as much as we did, and that we all made it out alive," he continued with a shrug. "With any luck, Fieyr will think you're dead and give us a little operating space, but I can't help but feel like finding him might lead us back to his employers."

 

Fett turned to look at her, obviously a little concerned with the state she'd ended up in last time. "Are you going to be able to face him?"

 

He was just starting to get an idea what the empaths could do to each other. It was like an entirely separate field of battle. He intended to be there if Mirdala and Fieyr fought again, but if the rogue Ageless could take her out of a fight with a mental attack, he needed to know.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Her eyes met his, and he didn’t need to be an empath to sense the irritation. No sooner had it showed, then it was gone again and she turned her attention back to the mounds in front of her. “I’m just getting used to it myself. The only empath I had to deal with on a regular basis was Tey, occasionally the Ad’Norts. Not all the Omicrons are as strong as I am, but there’s enough there to want to make me escape with my own thoughts…"

 

She shivered slightly and pulled the old fatigue jacket tighter around her. “I still seem to forget how cold it gets at night here. You know, I really miss Shogun sometimes.” She sighed and looked up at him, offering him a half-hearted smile. “Just thinking about the secrets everyone holds, and how they are discovered. You know I would have told you he was alive if I could have, right?”

 

Taking a deep breath, she finally answered his question. “I’m frustrated by the whole situation. I want to go after him, if only to make him answer for Carid, but I know I’m no where near ready…not yet anyway. It’s always harder to fight someone who wields his abilities like a sledgehammer to the forge..."

[Moon Knight]

He nodded reassuringly when she brought up keeping TeVerd's survival from him. He didn't consider than an offense at all.

 

"It sounds like you have some training ahead of you," he inferred. "There's no better time than now." She had a team full of empaths, including TeVerd, hanging around at the moment. The way he tended to disappear and drop completely off the grid, Kandor figured she needed to take advantage of his presence.

 

"Taen called me earlier. Said he wanted to bring in an outsider to uncover the mole in his organization, someone impartial," he explained. "I told him I didn't know what our next move was, but if you're going to be committed to training I"ll tell him I can help." He didn't mention the other thing they'd spoken about -- the additional files the Sector Protector had for him. Again, stuff that might not end up being relevant, but... well, Mirdala had told him about the nightmares she'd been having that featured a dar'jetii and getting all the information he could about ones she'd had experiences with was another lead to cultivate.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

The raven-haired woman shrugged. “There’s always more training, Kand’ika…it’s just a matter of…” She trailed off, looking down at the ground as her thoughts circled back to her earlier conversations with TeVerd. She stopped to consider what pursuing Seeker training might mean for whatever was developing between her and Kandor. It was especially dangerous, both physically and mentally, and once she went down that path there was little chance of turning back. It was a huge decision that indirectly impacted him, both as her hunt partner and possibly more.

 

It wasn’t that relationships were off-limits; Hwulf and Laesha had been married for much of the time he was a Seeker. She wasn’t sure if Rhys became a Seeker before or after his wife’s death, but he was another potential example of how things could work. Rahg...she had no clue, nor did she care.

 

Her jade eyes seemed to glow in the reflected moonlight when she finally looked back up at him. She chewed on her lip slightly before completing the thought in a more direct manner than she’d begun. “I’ve asked TeVerd to train me as a Seeker.” She doubted that Kandor would truly know what that would entail or the gravity of what that’d admission meant. To be honest, she thought she knew, but from Tey’s earlier reaction, she wasn’t so sure anymore. If he had any questions she’d do her best to answer them as honestly as she could.

[Moon Knight]

Kandor studied her face. The way she had stated it made it sound like a major commitment. All he really knew is that the Seekers were an ancient tradition of powerful empathic verde that specialized in combating dar'jetiise and were currently being hunted to extinction by some as-yet unknown threat. He also knew that there were few of them and yet TeVerd wasn't exactly holding open classes to rebuild their number -- only some of the Omicrons had the training and bore the identifying marks on their kom'rke. And among them was Rahg, the least mentally stable of them and perhaps not by coincidence.

 

He also knew that whatever was involved, she was determined now to see it through at any cost to herself. She had already told him she was willing to sacrifice everything to stop those that were threatening her aliit, including her life. He had very real hopes for a future together with her and had staked a lot on her not destroying herself in pursuit of her current goals, but knew that any future they might share was predicated on first those goals being reached, by any means necessary.

 

"Whatever you decide to do, you have my support," Fett told her. "But you seem a bit anxious about it. What all is involved in becoming a Seeker?"

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

She motioned for him to sit beside her and leaned against him when he did. “I’m not sure, but it’s something that Tey’s resisted all my life. Never even presented it as a possibility. It’s very dangerous,” She closed her eyes, remembering one particular incident from her childhood. “He primarily went against dar’jetiise and the like that got too close to the home sector.”

 

Taking his hand in hers, she looked up at him again, ”TeVerd said that to be who they are, Seekers must sometime become a new breed of monster. Not what they hunt, but almost as bad. If one was ever to loose themselves, it would cause a great deal of pain, not just to the sector, but to the entire galaxy.” She paused for a moment as she felt her heart starting to beat heavily in her chest.

 

“He’s had to hunt those who fell before. That was the reason he couldn’t come back after my buire were killed. He’d caught wind of one of them when he was escorting Fieyr out of the system after attacking me."

 

“I can’t know if or how this will change me. I don’t even know what it entails. I just know that I can’t face Fieyr again without being able to counter his mind blast. I’m lucky TeVerd spent the greater part of my life teaching me to hide within the Force and empathic streams. It’s how I fooled Fieyr in to leaving me."

 

She rested her head back against his shoulder and closed her eyes. “Tey still hasn’t agreed to it…so I might be worrying for nothing.”

[Moon Knight]

Kandor wrapped an arm around Mirdala. "I don't want you to lose yourself, cyar'ika," he told her, his voice uncharacteristically apprehensive. "I honestly don't know what I would do if something were to happen to you." It was a very raw sentiment, perhaps never before something that he would admit to anyone. It meant he had fear.

 

But then his voice became reassuring. "But you're doing the right thing for the right reasons," he said. "What it means to me to be Moon Knight is equipping myself in the best way I can manage so that I can fight the battles that no one else can fight, for the people that need someone to fight for them. You have a power I cannot understand and a responsibility to use it for the good of your aliit and against such men as Fieyr. You are stronger than anyone I know, and your conviction on this matter does you great credit."

 

Fett gave her an affectionate squeeze. "Even when the worst happens, you always seem to come out of it stronger, more alive," he said. "And so it is with great confidence that I can say I look forward to seeing what you can do as a full Seeker, and I think TeVerd would be wrong to deny you that chance."

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

She pulled his arm around her waist and drew closer to him so that she was able to take his hand in hers. "I don't plan on going anywhere, Kand'ika," with her other hand, she pulled his face close to hers and kissed him deeply.

 

Kandor was right. If Tey, or any of the others, thought she was going into this for the wrong reasons he never would have kept the discussion going with her as long as he had.

 

How many challenges and crucibles had she come through stronger for them already? She'd long lost count.

 

It would be that much harder for her to accidentally loose herself through the tests ahead if she had plenty of good people around her to help draw back the darkness within. She was happy that Kandor was one of them.

 

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

 

TeVerd was standing in front of the mirrored glass, looking at himself and adjusting the unfamiliar armor plates as Rhys leaned in the doorway, arms crossed.

 

"So how are you going to handle it then, Sarge? Give in, say no and shun her when she tries again, what,” Rhys asked. He knew it was a very prickly subject, and was always quietly surprised with how much he'd been allowed to get away with since his actions verged into uncomfortable territory for his former sergeant.

 

"Kind of loose, but Dika and Rahg can sort that out with new attachment points." TeVerd muttered, fussing with his thigh armor. He caught Rhys's eyes in the reflection. "What will I do? My duty, obviously, Lieutenant."

 

"Which is?" Rhys prodded carefully.

 

TeVerd turned to him. "Not sure I really want to know."

 

There was a sound of the main door opening and closing and Rhys turned to catch a glimpse of Kandor briefly leaning his forehead against Mirdala’s before heading back out to the workshop where he’d been bunking down.

 

Mirdala blushed slightly as she noticed Rhys looking in her direction. “How is it fitting?” She asked, attempting to divert his attention.

 

"How is what fitting," Rhys asked her with a teasing grin. "The company, you mean?"

 

"You'll have to adjust the gription points," Tey answered her. "This is a spare set from another fallen Seeker, and despite being a hybrid, the man was actually more muscle than I am."

 

She rolled her eyes at her brother as she waived him aside to get a closer look at the work to be done on Tey’s new rig. “Shouldn’t be too hard. Between Rahg and I we should easily be able to have it done in about a day.” She adjusted some of the back pieces to get a better measure of the contact points.

 

"Seems like a decent hunter," Rhys said unsolicited as he watched her work. "Rolls with the punches decently well."

 

Taking a stick of chalk out of a case in her jacket pocket, she began to mark the places where the adjustments to the armor would need to be made. "He knows his way around a battlefield." She paused, evaluating her work.

 

"There, how does that feel?" She stepped back, once again fighting the urge to add "buir" to the statement. It kept causing her to spike unusually each time she managed to reign in the urge.

 

Rhys looked at her with one eyebrow cocked in what she thought of as the "ARC Troopers evaluate the Universe" expression.

 

"What is that look for Ori'vod?" She remarked meeting Rhys's gaze.

 

"You, and your little emotional lurches. Control impulse issues?"

 

She glanced from Rhys to Tey. “The issue is controlling the impulse actually.”

 

Tucking the chalk back in it’s case, she stepped away from TeVerd so he could easily shuck the armor.

 

Leaning against the wall next to Rhys, she added, “Bring yours by as well sometime this week so we can go over it. This fight just got a lot bigger and we don’t want issues with the gear.”

 

She closed her eyes for a moment and her breath caught as she felt another flash of the same pure hatred she’d felt once before in the back alley way on Coruscant. Her hand closed around Rhys’s forearm as she drew on her own mental walls to try to block it out this time. It passed after a few moments. “I think someone’s not happy we survived…specifically me.”

 

She was breathing hard as Rahg stuck his head out of one of the spare rooms glaring at her, a look of disgust on his face.

 

"Go away, Rahg," TeVerd said mildly. "She didn't provoke them, and she defended herself quite well. Still not grounds to kill her." He crossed his arms and watched his bulky progeny carefully.

 

Rahg eyed Mirdala for a moment longer, nodded at TeVerd, and withdrew.

 

“It was just like on Corrie.” She looked up at Rhys, not realizing that she still had a hold of him. She shuddered and walked back into the main room. “This time you caught it too? What the hell does it mean?” She rubbed her temples.

 

"It means there's an aggressive Force-user of some sort focused on you personally," TeVerd told her from off to the side. "After all, you have brought them to heel, both in Corrie-Sect and while you were still living here. Their friends would know who you are, thanks to your time in the spotlight."

 

"Great. Because we needed more issues." She threw her hands up. "So that just means I need to get better at hiding and shielding myself from whoever it is that's trying to find me. So then how soon can you start helping me get back to where I was and beyond?"

 

TeVerd traded a look with Rhys. She noticed that both of their eyes were glowing.

 

The two of them walked out as Nek walked into the room carrying his sleep roll. "We'll talk about it in the morning," Tey said over his shoulder.

 

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

 

Mirdala sat in the speeder next to Rhys, shebse sore from the long ride.

 

"And you're still not going to give a clue," she asked him. "Are we almost there?"

 

"I already gave you a clue when I picked you up this morning. You've asked a lot of my father, don't keep pushing your luck," Rhys growled. "The rest of this becomes your business as it becomes your business. Every Seeker has to learn excruciating amounts of patience, and you should have been working on that for the whole ride."

 

Stung, Mirdala lapsed into silence, focusing on watching the landscape go by and trying to gage where she was and where they might be headed. All she knew for sure was that they'd ended up in the Northern Wilds with a short flight in Rhys's ship, and were now in the Hinterlands, all foothills and rocky spines.

 

An hour or so later, Rhys stopped the speeder in a copse of scraggly Draggla Pines. Helping her out, he pointed up a tree clad slope. "I'd advise you to handle your needs now. Once you follow that trail, there's a chance you'll never come back. Or wish you never had, anyways."

 

She pursed her lips, but trudged up the slopes in silence. She’d asked to be trained, but she hadn’t meant to upset her brother and father in the process.

 

The previous night’s incident only served to further drive the point home. If she honestly thought about it, she really couldn’t blame Rhys for his anger. The last thing that any of them needed was an angry Force-user nosing around the sector, the planet, and, most importantly to Rhys, his children.

 

Part of her did feel bad for demanding the way she had, but she was also getting sick of these little surprises and not being able to defend against them as well as feel like she wasn’t able to adequately watch TeVerd’s back when they continued the fight against Fieyr and whoever he’d fallen into alliance with.

 

She also began to wonder if the angry Force-flashes weren’t connected to Fieyr, or if they were something else entirely. “One thing at a time, face what’s in front of you, then move on,” she muttered to herself as she refocused on the trail in front of her, trying to remain in the present moment rather than let the plethora of unknowns distract her. If Rhys’s admonition had been any indication, not paying attention to the here and now was something she was sorely going to regret.

 

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

 

After awhile of hiking, during which she understood Rhys's remarks a bit better, Mirdala came to a large clearing, up in the heart of one of the spines. In front of her was deep frost and snow, stretching for a long ways. Around her, the wind whipped up, flinging swirls of ice and dust against her visor. As the wind passed, she felt...something, and the wind seemed to whisper and jabber, almost below hearing.

 

"Welcome to Kantomorut, 'The haunted glade"', TeVerd's voice said from behind, startling her. She hadn't heard or felt him approaching at all. He walked out of the snow whorls, helmetless, the edges of his kama being tugged at by a playful frost-devil.

 

"Why did you have me meet you here, Tey?" she asked, still stung and off-center from her trip with Rhys and her disturbing thoughts along the hike.

 

"You know of the Cin Vhetin, the White Field everyone gets one chance at, the open path to become a new person, yes," he asked. Without waiting for her to answer, he kept talking. "Like many phrases amongst Mando'ade, the concept evolves from a tradition, especially amongst my kind, and our adopted fathers, the Taung'ese. I hope you allowed the peace of the forest to flow into you, because you'll need it."

 

He stepped beside her and waved toward the field of white and gray. "Somehow, Kantomorut serves as a watering hole for active and restless souls. The farther out you go, the more active they become, the more energetically they'll interact with those on this side of the veil.

 

"Take your helmet off, and open yourself up to the energy of this place and your empathic connection of others of our kind. Give yourself a few moments, and then walk out there. You'll know when to stop, or you'll be stopped.

 

"The energy of the very earliest of our kind to specifically hunt Force users, men and women like Shogunate Tishkael, and Randavock the breaker and burner, can be encountered in a few secret places like this. They take a hand in deciding who's fit to follow their traditions, and who's simply unfit to continue, at all. They also gather and shelter those who came after them and we lost before their time, and so the wind gives voice to a litany of anger and pain, but also of wisdom and experience."

 

He shrugged. "Do you think it's any less now than it was when I trained, or Rhys?"

 

He stared at her for several long moments. "You go out there, you might wish you had never met me, or your mind might simply be sundered. But you asked, and you were told that it's a dangerous path to seek, yet you persisted. Now you have to face those who have gone ahead of us, and Babs can't protect you from them. She might be able to help you, but she can't save you. She has no authority over the dead, and no authority over Seekers alive or dead."

 

Mirdala removed her helmet and handed it to her father, heeding his advice as she relaxed and opened herself up more not just in their shared bond, but to the energies and ghosts beyond. Her pale cheeks had already begun to redden in the icy wind. “Should I also open up in the Force as well?” He was glad to know she at least had the sense to feel nervous.

 

“You’re the one that wanted to go down this path. Your call."

 

She took a step forward, then turned back towards him and embraced him fiercely. “I know you don’t like this, buir. I just want you to know that I appreciate everything that you’ve ever done for me, including honoring my choice. I will do my best to honor that same faith. I know there is a chance I won’t walk out of this, and I just want you to know that, no matter what, you gave me a chance to live life on my own terms rather than being corrupted to arrogance by my own Force abilities and becoming a danger to our sector. No matter what, ni kar’taylir darasuum, buir.”

 

As suddenly as she’d hugged him, she was stepping away and striding into the mist open to the experience and trials at hand. For the briefest moment, he didn’t see the capable woman she’d become but the same determined little girl that kept seeking him out every chance she could until he’d finally come to stay to train her.

 

He watched her as she walked onto the field of frost, head turning in all directions, wind twisting at her hair. She was obviously being emotionally hammered, but still she kept moving forward. He kept intending to turn away, but he knew he owed her this much. He owed her the dignity of witnessing her challenges and trials as much as he was allowed to.

 

After many long moments, she seemed to be almost forcibly stopped, brought up short. Her face tilted up and her hands raised and moved, as if she was being sternly lectured or reprimanded. At one point, her shoulders slumped and her expression collapsed, on the verge of tears. But she seemed to rally and draw herself back up, facing the trial with as much self-dignity as she could gather.

 

He could hear none of what was going on. It was as if it was all happening on the other side of a thick transparisteel wall.

 

And the wind was talking to him, distracting him.

 

After almost an hour, she turned and trudgeded back to him, shoulders hunched forward. Battered, but not broken.

 

When she was almost to him, she finally looked at him, eyes wide and damp with stress, face pinched from cold and tension.

 

He walked over to her and held her face in both hands, looking at her for long moments, and then he leaned over her, kissing the top of her head.

 

“Ni kyr’tyal gai sa’ad, Mirdala," he whispered into her frost rhimed hair.

 

She hugged him again, this time more fiercely than before, tears finally flowing freely, the icy wind making her cheeks burn from where they traveled down her cheeks. Completely exhausted from her ordeal both physically and mentally she finally collapsed into his arms. Through their bond he could feel her relief at the trial's completion, the new resolve that was taking hold, and the bright light of her happiness at having come out the other side and into the waiting arms of her father and hunt partner.

 

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

 

"So she passed," Rhys said, as he took the small armored form from the man he knew as his father.

 

"Of course. You had doubts," TeVerd asked.

 

"Not really. I knew she was capable. Just perhaps her Force ability and unwillingness to be challenged might have hurt her. That's what almost did for me, after all," Rhys grunted, setting Mirdala in the back of the speeder and covering her with a blanket.

 

"Well, now her challenge is to wake up. Let's get back to Soresh's farm," TeVerd ordered.

[Moon Knight]

In the morning when Mirdala was whisked off by Rhys to parts unknown to begin her training, Kandor made good on his offer and headed into Dawn to begin working on Taen's informant problem. He wore the beskar'gam he'd worn on the previous trip, once again wishing to be able to conduct an investigation a little more discreetly. Bringing in someone outside the organization gave certain advantages, but his true purpose there could be given away if and when the suspects identified him as a CoreSec officer rather than an anonymous contractor.

 

Once he arrived he met with the Sector Protector immediately and got the run down. It was Hwulf's death that prompted the investigation in the first place -- the late Seeker worked as a Constable around his other responsibilities, but his killers clearly had specific information that he was out on a job not related to his position in the Journeyman Protectors. Unfortunately, that was very little to go on. While members of the organization weren't at liberty to share case details with outside sources, several teams could have had access to the details that were disclosed. The conspirator could be any individual from one of those teams... or even several members.

 

Kandor's cover was that he was a temporary contractor brought in as a subject matter expert on a classified case. This would give him access to the organization and the ability to create intelligence without needing to provide individual teams with a "big picture" of what case he was working. The tried-and-true method of finding a mole in an organization was the careful crafting of plausible false intelligence, which would then be distributed across multiple suspects. Given that whoever had planted the mole was clearly interested in the Seekers, and given that Mirdala was connected to both organizations, he knew that he would have to craft reports as to her whereabouts in order to get a bite. It would shatter any chance of their enemies thinking Fieyr had killed her, but then, any mole worth their salt would have already picked up on that now simply by observing Taen and Briia. With any luck, one of the false reports would end up in enemy hands, and by monitoring the false destinations, they could deduce who had distributed the data.

 

It would be a lot of work, and probably take some time to come up with results, but the good news was that he wasn't totally solo. Taen would work closely with him on the investigation, and he was in the clear to share details with Mirdala, TeVerd, and the Omicrons as necessary.

 

By the time he got onboarded with his temporary Journeyman Protector's ID and learned his way around the organization, he barely had time to start crafting reports before the first work day was coming to an end. He was heading out the door when Briia Silvar saw him and waved. "Have a nice day! Say hi to your brother for me!"

 

"Uh, right, will do. See you around, Briia," he replied, hiding his bewilderment before realizing that she was talking about Aliise. This face of mine... he thought, putting on his buy'ce as he stepped into the sun.

 

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

 

Arriving back at the farm, Kandor found Mirdala totally passed out from her day's ordeal. He quickly sought out Rhys and asked about it, and got about half an answer. There was some kind of opening test to enter Seeker training, a form of trial which was frequently dangerous. Mirdala had passed the test but it had taken a lot out of her.

 

He supposed that was a good way to start things, and for now he was satisfied to wait until she was conscious to hear more about it.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Despite the pile of blankets she could feel on her as she rolled over on the cot, she still felt cold to her core. Reaching out, she rose, still trying to make sense of what she’d just gone through. Vi’ika nuzzled her hand in response. Ignoring her pounding head, she rose and went to the refresher to take a shower. Turning the water as hot as it would go, she leaned against the wall giving her mind time to process her experience in the snowy foothills of where ever it was Rhys and Tey had taken her. She hated the cold.

 

Had she imagined what Tey had said, just before she’d lost consciousness? Had the arguments and counter-arguments with the ghosts caused her to finally falter and he’d had to come retrieve her? Did she pass? There certainly had been much dissension amongst them once her Force-sensitivity was brought into the discussion. She now better understood where Rahg had been coming from as one after another those against her pointed out the dangers of allowing a Force-using “brat" to join their ranks. Even if she’d passed their assessment, she knew that it’d be a long probation period and even then some wouldn’t ever be okay with her joining their ranks.

 

The hot water helped chase what was left of the chill from her ordeal away. A soft knocking at the door brought her back to the present. “You okay Vod’ika?” Rhys called through the door.

 

“Getting there. Just trying to get my mind sorted,” she called quietly as she shut off the water.

 

“Well suit up, buir’s waiting.” He patted the door twice and was gone.

 

She toweled off and dressed quickly, stopping just long enough to wring the water from her hair and weave it into a plait. As she dressed, her mind returned to trying to remember whether or not she’d imagined TeVerd adopting her. Rhys’s order didn’t make things any clearer since he’d been short with her all morning and never seemed to balk at using the term with TeVerd. He keeps Ad’Verd as his clan name so there’s no accounting, for that, She thought.

 

She now understood more about why he’d been out of sorts about the whole affair, but it still didn’t tell her if she’d imagined it or if her hunt-partner had finally been honest about his role in her life.

 

She entered the main room to see TeVerd and Rhys waiting for her.

 

"Well, you woke up. That's a good sign," TeVerd said. She couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not. But she didn't have to wait long.

 

"Let's take some weight off your shoulders. You passed that trial, so there's that at least. Expect to have to face them, off and on, for a good while yet. Seekers are constantly being checked and watched by their forebears." TeVerd said softly.

 

"Your next step is to get some skraan in you to make up for the ordeal you went through and the full day you were out. We're also going to help you reset your brain, so you can bounce back from that and keep going forward." He gestured towards the kitchen. "Nek is helping Rahg put the right sort of meal together for you, so stay out of their way for a bit."

 

He crossed his arms. "Then Nek is going to do an eval on you. After that, the real struggle begins. Not only will I be training you, but I'm going to be running Rhys and Rahg through refresher training alongside you some of the time."

 

“I honestly didn’t think that I’d be even more grateful that you and Nek put me through what you did on Coruscant Rhys,” she said, crossing the room to sit next to her brother. “I don’t think that I would have survived that otherwise.” She held up a hand to silence her father. “Not that you would have allowed me to go to the glade if I didn’t at least stand a fighting chance. You do care about what happens to me, after all.”

 

She looked around, “Where’s Kandor?"

 

Rhys smirked. “He’s at his ‘day job’ with the Protectors. He should be back soon."

 

Mirdala pursed her lips and gave him an odd look.

 

Vi’ika padded over to her and curled up at her feet. Mirdala stroked her soft black fur, as she absently remarked, “I was out nearly two days? After that argument I’m honestly surprised it wasn’t longer. Did I actually make it back to you,” she probed. “Or did they let you take me out of the glade?”

 

"Yes," Tey answered her. "I was allowed to take you out of the glade, but yes, you actually left the frost field under your own power, first."

 

“Then did I hear what I think I heard?” She looked from him to Rhys and back again.

 

"No, this is all just a really horrid dream Rahg is having," Rhys laughed.

 

“Suddenly that explains so much.” She playfully smacked him with the back of her hand. “Thanks for keeping things as clear as mud for me ori’vod."

 

"Do you need to have it spelled out for you, or do you actually really just know and are prodding for the sake of it?" Rhys asked her gently.

 

“From the way you’re prodding,” she started raising a hand to her temple as her head pounded further, “I guess that I did hear correctly. So, no, I wasn’t prodding for the sake of it. Kark this headache!” She rose suddenly and dashed to the refresher where the sound of her retching could be heard.

 

“That’s no headache,” Nek said poking his head of the kitchen at her spike of pain, “That’s a full-blown migrane. I didn’t think that I had to lecture you about prodding someone who’d just mind clashed with a bunch of angry empathic ghosts.” He frowned and reached for his medical bag. “Whether she pushed for this or not, you’re not doing her any favors by playing further mind games with her so soon afterwards."

 

Rhys crossed his arms. "Actually, it'll help in the end. Believe me, there's no point being super gentle. Because that wasn't me nudging her. That's her being extra sensitive to any emotional impulse right now from getting her mind tipped over like a backwater bank."

 

Tey spoke up. "There's no easy way to recover from that. By accounts, I was bleeding out of my nose and gibbering delirious for days before I was aware of anything."

 

Rahg wandered out of the kitchen, wiping his hands. "I was just out cold for a week, then basically drunk for a couple days after. Worst hangover in the world is apparently a Red Dreams hangover."

 

“Nek,” Mirdala rasped from the doorway, looking more haggard than she had when she’d woken up. “I’ll be fine. I just need to try keep something down.” From listening to the others, she almost wondered if she’d gotten off lightly with just the migraine and two days’ rest.

 

Nek eyed her, walking over with his medkit. "Humor me and let me look, anyways. Just because these three suffered in manly stoicism doesn't mean a good doctor won't help any."

 

He slapped a diagnostics cuff on her arm and prepared a dose of anti-shock, which she was wryly beginning to think of as her "drug of choice."

 

"And yes, you do need to get some hot food in you, too," he said as he injected the drug into her neck. "You heard our father, things don't get any easier just because you aren't wherever they took you the other day."

 

“I’ve had ghosts around me most of my life Nek, just not hostile ones.” She glanced at Tey. “I’ll just have to work on getting a thicker skin and do my best to alleviate their aggravation by my actions. I can do this.” The last part was more to convince herself rather than the others.

 

"You just have to go on as you can," Tey told her. "Some folks are bastards, and death doesn't change that."

 

She nodded and crossed the room to sit down again, Tey catching her for a moment in a quick hug before she resumed her previous seat on the couch next to Rhys. She began to relax and give herself over to the family bond a bit as the anti-shock helped to calm her stomach and took the edge off of her migraine.

 

"Get used to feeling like you’re being watched all the time by someone besides Rahg," Rhys said. "Or Her."

 

“Babs?” She said, not quite sure where the name had come from as she was still trying to get the events sorted in her mind from when she’d started ascending the ridge to the glade.

 

"Who?" Nek asked her, genuinely confused. "Never met anyone named that."

 

She looked up at TeVerd, “You might have and not known the name to put with the blue haired woman, but I think that we’ve all met her. Isn’t that right Buir?” she asked gently.

 

Tey crossed his arms, lips pulled into a tight line. "Perhaps, perhaps not." He nodded. "You've certainly interacted with her more than enough during your life."

 

“Enough that she threw me out of the stream when I was sinking.” Mirdala pointed out.

 

TeVerd raised his eyebrow at that, obviously expecting more as the sound of the back door opening and shutting was heard, likely Kandor returning to the farm.

 

"I figured she'd been engineering something, which is why I warned you about thinking she was going to be your ticket to getting what you wanted."

 

“You acknowledged that I was your daughter, didn’t you? I never assumed she had anything to do with my wanting to become a Seeker. She’s never pushed that. She just told me that it wasn’t my time to give way to the Red Dreams yet.”

 

"I didn't say she had engineered that, just that it's sometimes too easy to expect the shades from the past to give you answers and strength." He shifted. "And yes, I acknowledged you as my child and legacy."

 

“Babs has never really given me answers, just helped me find them on my own,” she got quiet, remembering what sore subject the blue-haired detective could be for him.

 

Luckily Rahg interrupted, having taken the moments when Nek was examining her to finish up the meal. “Eat up runt. If you expect to keep up you’ll need your strength."

 

Mirdala met TeVerd’s eyes is silent apology as she began to nibble at the food Rahg had brought her.

[Moon Knight]

Kandor pulled off his buy'ce as he entered the farmhouse after his third slow day getting established with the Protectors, putting down a few things he was carrying while he listened to the tail end of the conversation that was going on in the other room. He frowned when he heard Mirdala refer to TeVerd as her buir. He'd known how loose her concept of aliit was, and that it wasn't especially uncommon among Mando'ade to come and go from their clans, adopting and bonding as necessary, and so far he hadn't had any issues with how the Ad'Nort family came together -- except for the purposes of trying to figure out who belonged to whom. In fact he found it pleasingly practical. But this struck him as just a bit odd. Mirdala's buire had been murdered, and it seemed to him almost disrespectful to Jorbe to simply adopt a replacement father.

 

Or maybe he had spent too much time around aruetiise. He mentally shrugged. He supposed it wasn't any of his business what Mirdala wanted to call TeVerd. If anything he supposed it give him a little more insight into the role the Ageless had played in her upbringing.

 

He put on half a smile as he entered the room where the rest of them had gathered, giving Mirdala a nod. "You look like you just wrestled a gundark, Mird'ika," he said, his tone amused. "But I'm glad you're awake. Kandosii on passing your trial." Like he'd told her, he hadn't had any doubts, but it was nice to see her back on her feet after just a couple days.

 

Kandor sniffed and could smell the skraan Nek and Rahg were putting together. It was nice to have steady work for the moment, but it sure did make him hungry.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

As they’d eaten he’d filled in the rest of the team on what he’d been up to at the office. Rhys had asked Kandor if he wouldn’t mind sharing the false intelligence with him so they could leverage their resources to potentially track the flow as it went outward from the Protectors, or at the very least have some extra eyes out there looking to see where it might have showed up.

 

Nek had insisted that Mirdala go back to bed after she was done eating, though she hadn’t put up much of a fight due to her migraine.

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

 

Mirdala woke up a few hours later to the sound of sticks thudding together, gravel crunching, and the occasional shouts of “Oya!" or “Kandosii!" amidst odd metallic noises.

 

Curious, she rose from the bed and quickly dressed.

 

As she stepped outside, two arms wrapped themselves around her as a familiar voice yelled out. "Dika!!"

 

Briaa hugged her hard and stepped back for a bit to examine her. "Wow. Okay, you don't actually look like 'Death Waiting For A Hole to Crawl In' as Rhys tried to tell me. I knew he was joking."

 

She held her arm and walked her down one of the fields, where Mirdala found Tey, Kandor, Nek, Rhys, Rahg, and Aliise, as well as another young man and woman, dressed in training armor and fighting each other over possession of a tiny ball using the sticks she remembered from the games on Coruscant.

 

"The tales of my death are greatly exaggerated, though sleep and some good care will do wonders." She remarked.

 

"I'm sure Kandor took great care of you," the Twi'lek elbowed her former training partner. She was rewarded with a scowl.

 

That didn't dampen Briia's enthusiasm. "Oh, come on. You're not still keeping him squarely in the 'friend' category, are you? Seriously Mird'ika, you have to let yourself live a little."

 

"Now really isn't the time Briia.” Kandor was most certainly not in the ‘friend’ category, but Mirdala wasn’t really sure what to label their current status and she wasn’t about to fuel the Twi’lek’s curiosity.

 

Briia laughed happily, having succeeded in needling her friend. "Do you play?"she asked her, gesturing at the field. "My dad did, but he was never much like his neighbors, so I was surprised to see so many people playing when we got here. Then Aliise and Corsha jumped in, too."

 

Mirdala looked towards the assembled knot of players. "Once, before I left Coruscant. I'm afraid I never quite caught on. It wasn't a game I was brought up with."

 

The other newcomer stopped what he was doing and started bouncing the ball in the hook on his stick,

 

"You two, rig up and play. If you're going to be in the family, you need to be involved."

 

Mirdala waved at them and headed back into the house to rig up.

 

"Where are you going?" Tey asked her. "You think you get to be a brat and cheat by wearing your own rig. Nope, you suffer just like the rest of us." He gestured down at the unmarked misshapen plates and cage-faced buyce he was wearing.

 

"You can be comfortable when you're dead," he muttered. He walked over to a pile by the field and started chucking gear at Briia, who had obviously not expected to be dragged in, either. "You, too," He told the Twi'lek. "Shuck that rig and get ready to play rough."

 

"Wasn't trying to be a brat, buir," she remarked as she began gearing up. "I've just not played this much before. Just once." She grabbed one of the sticks and joined his team, while Briia joined Aliise's.

 

"I think she picked our team just so I don't have a good reason to hit her over the head," Rahg muttered, out of breath from having dragged Aliise and Kandor across the foul line.

 

"Pretty much," Mirdala shrugged honestly.

 

"It started out as a Mandallan way to settle inter-tribal or inter-clan issues with something less than absolute slaughter. Nowadays, it's more often seen in the Corellian Fringe and the Fondor sectors," The new man said. "But it's still a good way for a clan to get together and exorcise some frustrations without leaving permanent rifts."

 

"So if you're really planning to stick around, Runt," Tey said. "You need to be able to play as well as the rest of them do."

 

"Or we'll throw you out of the family." Rhys smirked from where he was downing some water.

 

The other man nodded at where Briia was allowing Aliise to adjust her harness. "And you're already a chalk down compared to others, because Bault could play the game really well."

 

"Then I guess I better get my shebse shifted and pray I catch on quick." She smiled and jogged out to join them.

 

"Just so we're clear on who's who," Tey said. “Mird’ika, these are Rhys's son Pren and his wife, Corsha. Everyone else, the Twilek that Aliise is being all googly-eyed over is Briia Silvarr, of the Concord Dawn JPs."

 

Mirdala nodded to her other four teammates and readied to face off against her brother, nephews, and former and current partners.

 

Her, TeVerd, Rahg, Pren, and Nek versus Briia, Aliise, Kandor, Corsha, and Rhys

 

Mirdala was sitting on a convenient stump drinking a jug of water from the farm's wells, surveying the playing field, especially the pile of broken playing sticks.

 

The game had been called for a lack of intact equipment, as much as too many players knocked unconscious.

 

Rahg had hammered Kandor off the field with a vicious cross cut swing, only to be knocked out moments later by Rhys's daughter by marriage, Corsha. The tall slim woman had proved to have an instinctive and vicious style of play.

 

Briaa had proved she could still play with the big boys, having dueled it out with Tey for control of the ball, and then cruelly jerking Mirdala off balance by catching her helmet with the net on her stick.

 

Nek, Mirdala thought as she massaged her ankle, was going to be busy for the rest of the afternoon.

 

TeVerd sat down next to her and held his hand out for the jug. "So, now you understand some of the Omicrons a bit better." He said. "Not everyone is married to the war like me."

 

He grinned at her. "Get your ankle sorted and let's relax the rest of the day. Tomorrow I'll start throwing knowledge at you."

 

She nodded, and he didn’t miss her gaze go past him to check on Kandor’s status before she answered. “Sounds like a plan to me."

[Moon Knight]

Kandor had never played the game either, but the objective was pretty straight-forward and actual rules were scarce. Like the classical Mandalorian pastime mesh'geroya, it was intensely physical and involved quite a lot of contact, which would have resulted in serious injury if not for the beskar they were wearing. He found that he didn't yet have the skill set to make some of the plays the more experienced competitors were, but he could take a licking and deal one out so he fell into a support role where he could contribute his strengths to the team, approaching it just like combat. He had to admit he was impressed by Briia's competitiveness -- the ability to keep up with and battle it out with men literally twice one's weight was a trait he'd expected from Mirdala but less so from the Twi'lek.

 

Despite his ramikadyc approach, of course, it was all in good fun. Cooperative team sports were another thing Kandor had missed out on his whole life, and they engendered a level of camaraderie not restricted by the careful professionalism that the team had maintained during and around the Abraxos operation. Fett found that he was legitimately enjoying himself.

 

Once the game had ended he saw Mirdala glancing his way after talking to TeVerd and he headed over, doing a few post-workout stretches. "I'll be counting my bruises tonight," he commented. "Rahg's got a mean swing. You alright?"