Borleias

[Liv]

Thwack!

 

• Thwack!

 

• • Thwack!

 

A shrewd, strong, wrinkled hand – akin to a bird’s talon – gripped the loose leather of Liv’s jacket and cranked her shoulder up until she sat bolt upright. It was harsh and precise. The crude durasteel chair that she was crammed into dug into her back and she groaned. Red marks lingered on the pale flesh of the teenager’s forehead and a small strand of drool hung from her lips, but she didn’t notice. All she noticed were the two tiny green daggers boring into the side of her head and the feeling of foreboding that lingered all around her. Her appointed legal representative stared at her; stabbing, piercing and relentless. It seemed his patience was running thin. She couldn’t blame him really. Her patience had run out a long time ago. Her thoughts were scurrying around like tiny Jawas without a hydrospanner. And the prevailing notion that tugged incessantly at her exhausted mind, was a strong desire for Carsunum. The name alone made her jolt in her seat. But need was just the beginning of Liv’s nervous withdrawal.

 

Her body twitched with every sound that thundered through the cavernous room and she struggled to focus on the proceedings. Reality dimmed a little and her head swiveled about at irregular intervals. Fail. Liv pushed her eyes closed and furrowed her brow in concentration. Then she sat and tried to focus on the back of her right hand. She scraped the thin membrane of her fingernails across the wood of the desk in front of her and endeavored to center her mind on the sensation. Drip. A small pool of liquid gathered on the desk right beside her hand. Drip. The cold thatch of limp brown hair that hung in front of her face started to gather and irritate her eyes. Drip. Cold sweat mingled with the still drying bacta in her limp mohawk. And the dingy brown mop, instead of standing as it should, was now plastered to her forehead. It stole what little focus she garnered and robbed her efforts, rendering them futile; misplaced. Her predicament – like her hair – was colorless. And it would likely stay that way until she could afford to recolor it. Apparently, bacta removed hair dye. Huh…

 

An over-large black Bothan huffed behind a bloated podium and shifted his glasses. He cleared the phlegm gathered in his throat and looked hard at the young woman that idled next to her state-appointed representative. “Olivia Strong, did you or did you not murder Ted Cudgel?”

 

It was a simple question. But Liv’s mind was a blur. In fact, the past twenty-four hours felt like a strange blur. The last thing she remembered, after being pulled out of the bacta, was being dragged into a courtroom. She vaguely recalled Aira, Aelyn, Samuels, and Hopkins standing around her bacta tank, saying things that she couldn’t make out. She even saw her mother amidst the crowd. But she couldn’t reason with what they were doing. Her mind felt distant from it all. A spectator of her own life, Liv couldn’t fathom what the delirious vision meant. What she knew was: the crazy voice in her head was gone, each piece of jewelry tingled when she put them back on, she was feeling much better than she had been, and she was now subjected to a pointless arraignment about the murder she’d committed.

 

The Bothan judge’s patience wore thin. The teenager’s silence was grating on him, but he grunted audibly and reserved his irritation. He was to remain impartial. That was his duty. “I ask again. Did you or did you not murder Ted Cudgel?”

 

Her Corellian legal representative was still looking at her with malodorous intent. But Liv was unaffected by his threats, however unspoken they were. The murder in question swam to the forefront of her brain fog and her stomach contorted at the thought. The figure of ‘the Shuffler,’ looming over her, morphed and altered by the drugs coursing through her mind, was something out of a nightmare. The feeling of his stench and aura consumed her and threatened what little safety the teenager clung to. She acted with little discretion and ended the wastrel’s life. Did she know what his intent was? No. Did she want to know? No. Did she care? A little. But that didn’t do anything. The guy was kriffing dead and there was nothing she could do.

 

“Yes,” Liv said, bowing her head a little, refusing to look at the judge and not bothering to face her representative as he slammed his hand on the desk in frustration. He looked to her, attempting to halt her confession, but Liv didn’t want to deny it. She didn’t want things to get tied up and become more complicated than they needed to be. She did it. She knew she did it. And she wasn’t going to barrel around the moof milking truth just so she could try and escape the consequences. “I killed him. He was trying to jump me for some reason and I lashed out at him.”

 

The teenager bowed her head further to look at the wood of the desk once more, the surface of which was now a colorful arrangement of her musings. Scratch marks, drool marks, bacta drippings and indentations littered the broad desk. It was a visual depiction of her wasted time and scrambled brain.

 

The Bothan cocked his head to the side a little. The stern edge of his expression muted as he looked at the teenager. “Alright. Were you or were you not in possession of an illegal substance?”

 

Impressively, Liv’s expression soured even more than it had. Her expression was a far cry from sheer derision, but it mocked the sentiment with biting undertones. “Yes. I had Carsunum. I stole it from Tyros Kavesh, a pirate that holes up on Nar Shaddaa.”

 

Liv’s legal representative was close to slamming his head on the desk in frustration. He kept trying to interrupt and prevent the teenager from speaking, but she persisted through his continued interception.

 

The judge’s bushy grey eyebrows raised at her candid admission and some measure of curiosity snuck into his equally bushy mustache. “I-uh. Alright. Knowing your history of delinquency, and following this line of malfeasance, I have no choice but to senten-“

 

“Wait, your honor.” Phillip Pierson interjected. Her Corellian representative’s head was considerably redder than it had been, but he was remarkably skilled at controlling his temper. “Yes, my charge has done terrible things. But, I would like to propose an alternative sentence, if I may.”

 

The judge halted his gavel and waited, eyes open, for the defense attorney to offer his counter sentence.

 

“Thank you,” Phillip said, bowing slightly to the judge and moving in front of the desk with his arms folded behind his back. Liv was a little baffled by his posturing, considering they were the only ones in the room, but she wasn’t going to stop him. “Olivia Strong is the quintessential representative of a misguided youth. Her parents are gone and she has no structure in her life. To put her in another place that is chaotic and unstructured, would be to invite further chaos in her life. Instead, like her father, why not give her to the Galactic Alliance military? They are looking for new recruits and Liv could use structure.” Phillip stammered a little, but maintained his pace and took a deep breath before continuing. “The proposed sentence would carry a clause with it. That, if Liv doesn’t reform and come to some measure of discipline after five months, she will be sentenced to jail time. What do you say?”

 

The teenager gawked at the suggestion. The military? What would I do there? I? What? Who? Huh?

 

The judge raised one eyebrow above the other and looked at the state-appointed representative. The Bothan’s matted fur was heavy with mottled gray tones and bristled slightly at the sudden affront to his decision. But, he admitted, the idea had merit. The weight of each decision was obvious in the Bothan’s eyes and the gap that built in the silence stretched to unbearable levels. The frills of the judge’s mustache twitched as he wrestled with his decision until he finally chuffed through his snout, adjusted his glasses and smiled with contentment.

 

“You make a good point counselor. Though, I remind the representative that his conduct is ill-befitting his station. And that, next time, he should address the situation with proper decorum before proposing a counter sentence. Olivia Strong, you are hereby sentenced to service in the Galactic Alliance military for five months. At that time you will be given an assessment by your commanding officer and they will determine if you are fit to continue as a Cadet, or if you will be sent to jail. The court is adjourned.”

 

Just like that, Liv’s life shifted again. Everything was set into motion and Liv was caught amidst it all; a small weed caught in a torrential rapid, struggling to grip on to something.

[Tenebris]

Construction of a Golan II Space Defense Platform begins above Borleias.

 

Golan II AP cost: 2

Scheduled for completion on 10/15/17.

[Moon Knight]

The Justice rocketed out of hyperspace above the GA world of Borleias.

 

"Master, I am afraid I still do not understand the reason for our visit here," 2277 was saying from his usual station within the MandalMotors vessel's cockpit.

 

Fett shrugged. "We're just taking some overdue downtime," he said.

 

"I have never observed you requiring downtime before, Master," the beskar'ad objected. "There is considerable work to be done. I have discovered a bounty on a Sith Lord with which you have prior dealings, for one."

 

"It will have to wait," he responded. "Tell me -- have you observed the efficiency increase brought on by my partnership with Mirdala and her aliit?"

 

"I admit that I have. It is unlikely you would have been able to accomplish all that you did on Mandalore and Shogun on your own."

 

"For humans, these partnerships require maintenance," Fett explained. "Besides, I'll not be laying around all day, burc'ya. Going to get some work done on our kits and I'll make sure to find their gym. Meanwhile, you keep researching opportunities and we'll talk about that bounty."

 

2277 considered. "Very well, Master."

 

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

 

As soon as Fett landed the Justice -- and perhaps even before -- he knew that on some level they were going to stick out. The landing pad was on the edge of a grand resort a little outside the planetary capital of Laikos, and while Borleias itself was situated along the Namadii Corridor and thus a natural stopping point for traffic traveling between the colonies and the core, making it a very natural place for a bounty hunter as he had often been, this place in particular was geared for vacationers, and mostly wealthy ones. The Justice most closely resembled a tank and was bristling with overt weaponry, but it was setting down on a landing field dotted with strictly civilian designs, especially sleek Nubian and SoroSuub models that proudly announced the wealth of whoever possessed them.

 

He and Mirdala disembarked and were immediately picked up by a speeder shuttle onto which he loaded mainly equipment hardcases and only modest bags for clothing and other possessions. There were a few others aboard, humans and aliens of the upper middle class and above, dressed noticeably nicer than the Mandalorian couple. Kandor looked decidedly like an off-duty military officer in fatigue-style pants and a simple black shirt rolled up to his elbows with a build and haircut that matched, and Mirdala's clothes also tended practical.

 

The ride up to the resort was spent in silence except for a human child who kept pointing things out to his parents in wonder and excitement, eliciting half-concealed smiles from the other passengers. The resort was expansive and outfitted with numerous attractions. It had pools, spas, a casino, outdoor areas with smashball and grav-ball courts as well as hiking paths and other relaxation-oriented options, and no doubt many more things that they didn't see on the way in.

 

There were multiple options for accommodations, but Deren had spared little expense, and the hotel to which they were conducted was the nicest of the three. A pair of beskar'ade offloaded their bags and equipment while Kandor headed up to the front desk where he gave the name "Yaren Trent", under which Deren had placed their reservations. Even on vacation they figured it was appropriate to use false names.

 

From there they were escorted up to their room, a 16th-floor suite larger than Kandor's safehouse on Corellia and decorated nicer than the manor he'd purchased on Chandrila. The room had an oversized bed, lavish furniture, and an expansive outdoor balcony equipped with a small pool.

 

"Well, this is certainly... something," he said to his riduur. "Can't say I've ever been somewhere like this."

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

((Co-Written))

 

“Well, not somewhere that wasn’t an op-zone,” she corrected, dropping her bag next to the bed. “The Decadence Hotel on Nubia comes to...mind.” There was a pause, and he could almost read what memory had just flashed in her mind’s eye - her last trip to that planet. Just as quickly, she shook the thought from her mind and almost too quickly blurted, “Tends to shift your perspective on a place.”

 

As much as their first trip to Nubia had sown the seeds of their relationship (each realizing that there was something there beyond operational compatibility) it had also been the site where other things that might have grown were uprooted before they were more than merely a thought. It had been hard to watch the excited child with his parents when she thought of the shared dream of their son as well as the dozens of Mandalorian children whose lives had been cut short by the course of the war.

 

“Or the venue for the benefits dinner on Hapes,” he added, hefting their equipment crates over to a corner of the room where they wouldn’t be visible from the door. As on Hapes, they didn’t particularly need anyone seeing the armor or any suggestion that they were more than what they appeared.

 

“Have I mentioned, lately, that I’m glad we can’t ever go back there?” she called back from the massive closet that was part of the suite’s bedroom. There were several bags of clothing hanging in the back, she noticed and moved closer to take a look. As she unzipped a few of them, she began to laugh more out of uncertainty of how to process this development than because what she was finding was that genuinely amusing.

 

“I don’t think Deren was solely in on this one alone,” she said taking down one of the bags and bringing it into the bedroom for Kandor to examine. She removed the dress so he could get a better look at military-esque cut and style of the sturdy black material. “Recognize this?”

 

He looked it over for a moment. “Saw a holo of you wearing it on Triple Zero during your investigation, I think,” he said.

 

She nodded just as there was a knock at the door. Her hand was immediate to her sidearm as her head whipped toward the sound. A mechanical voice chimed “Room Service” and knocked again. “You didn’t order anything when we were downstairs, did you?” she asked, suddenly suspicious.

 

Kandor shook his head, but then shrugged. “No reason to be on edge here, Mird’ika,” he said before hitting the release on the door.

 

There was a droid outside with a small hovercart, featured in the center of which was a bucket with a few bottles of wine and other alcohol on a cooling pad. “Your complimentary bottle of champagne, Mr. Trent,” the droid intoned.

 

“Thank you,” he responded, accepting the bottle then shutting the door again when the droid moved off to the next room. He showed the bottle to Mirdala. “Ever drink this stuff? I’m sure there wasn’t much demand in Mos Eisley.”

 

She shook her head, removing the sidearm from her hip and hesitantly placing it in the bedside table drawer. “Most of the patrons tended to like things that they could also use to strip paint.” Taking the bottle from him, she examined it more closely. “This kind stuff was always way too fancy to keep on hand, but the Sivaaras tended to like it at their parties.” She handed it back to him, rubbing her hands against the chill of the bottle. “Have you ever tried to keep things cold in the middle of a desert?”

 

He glanced meaningfully at the bedside table. “Since when did you become the paranoid one?” he asked. Granted, he was concealing as well, but he’d always been paranoid.

 

Mirdala let out a soft half-laugh and set to putting the dress back in the bag. “Good point. Let’s see...two kidnappings, Force booby-trap specifically tuned to my signature, my family being hunted, multiple medical traumas and a half-dozen mental battles, at least,” she shrugged and stepped into the closet to rehang the bag. “Somewhere along that way.” Her tone carried with it no hint of accusation or even anger. If anything she seemed resigned.

 

“I think,” she started as she took a seat in one of the armchairs, silent for several seconds as she tried to order her thoughts. “I think I understand a lot of the reasons you once chose that path. Loss is hard.”

 

“Betrayal is worse,” he said. “Working alone was fine, but my problem wasn’t that I'd trusted people, it was who I’d decided to trust.” He smiled faintly at her as he went over the sink in the small kitchenette and popped open the champagne bottle. “I think my company has improved since then, and it makes the loss or threat of loss worth it.” He found two glasses in the cupboard and headed over to where she was sitting, offering her one of them. “Want to try it?”

 

She accepted it from him, her expression dubious considering she’d never known him to drink anything stronger than the occasional cup of caff. Even as she took it from him, her posture seemed to relax a little bit, and she took a sip of the bubbly pink liquid. He poured himself half a glass as well and sipped it, sitting next to her.

 

They sat together for a few minutes in a comfortable shared silence, tasting their respective drinks. The fact that Kandor was drinking at all had surprised Mirdala and, in a way, had acted as some unconscious signal that it was finally okay to relax in this new setting. She hadn’t quite expected it to be so hard to allow herself to shed her operational and war-time mindset.

 

“We should probably let the others know we’ve arrived okay,” Mirdala muttered quietly, almost loath to break the quiet. “I’d also like to check on Vi’ika.” She stood left the room to place the call. She hadn’t liked leaving her empathic companion so soon after TeVerd’s death, but knowing she was with Cinva and Vy’ika helped.

 

----

 

Over the next day and into the next evening she sought comfort with her husband as they reconnected as a couple, each starting to figure things out now that neither was in the crosshairs or at war.

[Moon Knight]

Kandor sat partially reclined in a chair out on the balcony, the Borleasian sun beginning to decline in the sky while the air remained comfortable, as it was now early summer in Laikos. Mirdala hadn't quite been ready to set out exploring the resort yet, and he'd readily accepted that and so remained in the room with her. He'd busied himself for the most part working on his beskar'gam, replacing and rewiring the targeting rangefinder and wrist laser. But now he was staring at a datapad and having a silent conversation with 2277 through his implant while Mirdala had slipped into the pool to relax and watch the sunset, wearing flattering-but-tasteful swimwear that Deren had thoughtfully arranged to be left in their closet.

 

Data flowed across his screen, carefully curated and organized by 2277 in the way that he had been for decades of their work together. The Sith had made an aggressive move on Kashyyyk, but now the Imperial Remnant fleet had arrived over Coruscant and were supposedly in talks with the Galactic Alliance. Fett had no particular love for the Empire, having sided against them for admittedly ideological reasons by joining the Augury after he'd become Moon Knight. He remained skeptical that Zinthos' Remnant was truly a different government, situated as it was on the same worlds, its political power base riddled with the same corrupt Moffs and governors as before. But a military alliance with the GA seemed to him a good move so that both factions could focus their attention on the emerging dar'jetii threat without having to worry about the other.

 

Speaking of the dar'jetiise, 2277 soon returned his attention to the bounty he'd mentioned on their way into the resort. He hadn't done the whole beroya thing in a little while now, but all of his potential plans for the future would require huge sums of credits, and if he could destroy a dangerous man in the process, it was worth considering. And the posted reward was more than he'd ever seen for a manhunt in his entire career.

 

"Somewhat-ludicrous bounty out on the head of Darth Quietus," he spoke up, sitting upright in his chair. "Ten million alive, half that dead. If I can verify the posting is legitimate, I think I might know how to find him. Not sure how you would feel about hunting dar'jetiise again in the future. I wouldn't want to push you."

 

Mirdala was a Seeker now and more deadly than ever against Quietus and his kind. But last time Kandor had urged her into hunting SIth -- too soon after her ordeal with the Thalassian slavers -- his insensitivity to her incomplete recovery process and her own stubborn tenacity had built up as pressure until it had exploded aboard the Enigma and they'd parted ways for 8 months. Their relationship was far stronger now, but that was partially due to the important lesson he'd learned. That was, he'd learned how to truly care for her rather than seeing her as a resource.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

His movement caught her attention as she’d listen to the night sounds of the city, muffled and pleasantly distorted almost like an exotic and unfamiliar jungle’s song. His voice, however, came through the vibrant hum of life below them. Righting herself from where she’d been happily floating, she swam over to the edge of the pool as she pondered his question.

 

“Let’s see...I don’t know this one personally, and he’s got no grudge that we’re aware of against us or our family?” She smiled at him as she tucked her feet against the wall while holding on to the edge of the pool. “I honestly don’t know my answer right now. One hand, it’s my duty to protect the sector as a Seeker, but I wouldn’t be the first to take a fight outside of the sector.” As though trying to clear her head, she leaned back into the water for a few moments, before looking back at him. “Eventually, yes, I could hunt dar’jetiise again.”

 

With one swift movement, she lifted herself out of the pool and grabbed a towel to dry her hair. "I feel I should be better prepared. Should we be worried that this bounty is this high? Someone wants him pretty badly and holding a Sith Master is no small feat. Maybe he's the next one we hunt, maybe not. Ask me again in a few days. It still doesn't change that our paths are likely to cross with at least one Sith because of our line of work and their re-emergence. I won't let them get another foothold in the sector. Not on my watch."

[Moon Knight]

“That’s more than fair,” he answered, completely satisfied with the answer. It was a little bit early to be thinking about their next hunt anyway, one day into their vacation.

 

He transitioned slightly. “I’ve been thinking about your kit,” he said. “Maybe before our next dar’jetii we should see about upgrading your tech.”

 

“So I don’t nearly stumble into a blind ambush?” she teased, wrapping the towel around her and sitting down on the end of the lounge chair.

 

“Something like that.” He put down his datapad. “Penetrating radar is certainly an option, I could install a system like mine. Some vac sealing and better environmental controls could help you as well in certain circumstances, and that shouldn’t take much more than a new flight suit and neck seal.” It would have helped mitigate her negative experience on Hoth, certainly.

 

“Never did much space work or crazy environments as a JP, but I guess needs change.” It was hard to think about altering her kit significantly. One of the things that TeVerd had always stressed with her was that equipment could fail anywhere and at any time and to be prepared for that eventuality. “Do you think we can get what we need here?”

 

“I keep spares of most of my tech on the Justice, but we’ll have to order at least your soft parts,” he said. “Is there anything else you think you might want to update while we have some downtime?”

 

“Give me some time to think and I’m sure we can come up with more.” She rose, “Now would you like to come help me out of this wet suit?”

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Thud. Thud. Thwack. Thwack.

 

Breathe.

 

Thump. Smack. Thump. Smack. Thwack

 

Breathe.

 

Thwack. Slap. Thud. Thwack. Thwack.

 

Breathe.

 

Hitting something felt good, Mirdala decided as she glanced sideways at Kandor who was moving in unison along with the rest of the class beside her, their impacts against their padded opponents causing a respondent twang with each connection with the bag. The class had actually been Kandor’s suggestion, an attempt to get her out of their room, and one that had worked, apparently.

 

The class had gone on long enough that most of the other resort patrons had returned their attentions to their own bags, though their idea of a workout produced sounds more like swish swoop and a duller version of Mirdala and Kandor’s kicks and punches.

 

She was also grateful for whatever method of containment kept her bag from wandering across the floor with each hit or kick. Usually she had to combat that by rotating around the bag as she worked it, but there was something to be said for simply being able to remain more or less stationary and pummel something.

 

You were right, she admitted through the private frequency they shared in their secured implants. Her focus still remained on the bag and mirroring the instructor’s cadence, and her movements had also taken on a dance-like quality as she fell into whatever pulse-pounding music they were playing.

[Moon Knight]

After a grueling hour, the class was ending. Most of the attendees were drenched in sweat, their flushed faces betraying their relief that they'd made it to the end of the workout, even if they appreciated the rush it gave them or at least the benefits of daily exercise.

 

Mirdala, however, looked better than Kandor had seen her in over a week. Ever since he'd first met her on board the Enigma he'd seen her fight as a form of catharsis, and this class had proved to be no exception. She'd fallen into rhythm and directed her energy into striking something tangible, and that moment of release from the lurking darkness in the back of her mind had strengthened her. Even as most of the class were sitting down trying to drown themselves in their water bottles, she was still light on her feet and he could sense her energy.

 

"I'm not done either," he told her. He took a few steps over towards the class instructor. "Do you have another class coming in here or is this room going to be open for a bit? My wife and I are looking for a place to spar."

 

The instructor glanced between them. "Guess I failed to wear you two out," she said. "You can stay -- next class is in 90 minutes. I'd ask you to wear pads if you're going to spar in here though." She walked over and opened a nearby equipment locker. Kandor agreed, he and Mirdala strapped on the gear, and then they squared off.

 

Fett kept his eyes on his riduur's. He used a wide stance to lower his center of mass, but he couldn't get it as low as Mirdala's, so he had to rely on his reach and strength advantages against her while she would use agility and leverage to outmaneuver him and knock him down. They knew each others' fighting styles very well and both could get the better of the other despite his greater experience, so when they sparred, he always tried to dredge up something from some past Moon Knight and keep her guessing. Teras Kasi had taken over the core of his form since he'd decided to focus on it on Hapes, but this time he wanted to borrow some footwork from the defensive Soresu jetii'kad form and see where it got him.

 

As a result he began on the defensive. Mirdala twisted and danced around him, testing his defenses with a series of kicks from different angles. By watching carefully for the signs he could predict each move and recall or design the correct block. After one such kick she reversed so quickly, pirouetting and coming in from the other side with a head-level strike, that he barely had time to duck just underneath. But he counterattacked and landed a kick of his own on her flank as she twisted away.

 

A competitive glint entered her jade eyes when he could see them again. She responded well to a challenge. By now their classmates who were still in the room were watching with rapt attention -- these two sparred like a well-choreographed sequence in a holo film. She came in again, this time low and even faster. Slipping past his outer guard, Mirdala delivered a series of punches that confounded his blocks, then put her shoulder in his stomach and flipped him clear over her. He kept his sense of orientation, swung his legs over him, and managed to come down on his feet. He then stepped into her, placing a foot between hers so that when she turned she was thrown off balance. She fell, landing on her back, but while he'd been expecting her to stay there for a moment so they could reset, she surprised him. Like an acrobat she planted one hand on the floor and with a wave-like motion suddenly landed both feet on his midsection, sending him sprawling backwards. She lightly twisted off the contact and ended up on her feet in fighting stance, her knees never having touched the ground.

 

Their spectators were audibly impressed by that one. Kandor picked himself up off the floor, grinning, and reset his stance, then beckoned for Mirdala to attack again.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

((Co-Written))

 

She smiled back at him and the dance began anew. For several minutes they alternated between bursts of trading blows, to reassessing the other. Kandor was patient and was more apt to weather the storm of her strikes, seeking an opportunity she rarely presented. Mirdala knew this about him and was grateful that her instinctive connection to the Force allowed her greater stamina to outlast even his patience.

 

Coming at him again, she feinted low and smiled when he took the bait as she vaulted clear over him, making it seem effortless. She stuck her landing and reversed her momentum into a powerful kick aimed for the back of his knees, but he was fast, stepping just inside the kick and close to her. He grabbed her outstretched leg behind the knee and pulled her off her standing foot, maintaining the hold and coming down on top of her as she fell, pinning her across her shoulders with his free hand.

 

With one hand still free, she reached up and pulled him closer, kissing him briefly before registering they had an audience. As she pulled back from the kiss, he released the pin and brought her to her feet as he rose.

 

“Well that’s one way to end a fighting match,” an unfamiliar voice appraised from the side of the room. “Most impressive.”

 

Kandor turned to face the speaker, his arm draped over his riduur’s shoulders. He could feel her tense slightly as a man a few inches shorter than Kandor and a measure less fit, but still well-built, approached them. There was something about the man that didn’t quite read military, but he had an air of authority about him that reminded them of an officer. Kandor nodded at him and released some of his training pads with his free hand. “Picked up a few things over the years.”

 

“From the looks of it, I’d say you two have seen your share of fights, or at least know your way around a fighting ring,” he extended his hand to Kandor. “Jaris Drex. My wife and I are here on vacation. What about you two?”

 

“Yaren Trent,” Fett answered, hesitating a moment before shaking the man’s hand. He tilted his head towards Mirdala. “My wife Kida.”

 

Mirdala extended her hand towards Jaris, her jade eyes scrutinizing his darker blue as she cautiously probed him through the Force. Sensing no immediate ill intent or danger, she relaxed her stance. I think he’s okay. Just genuinely curious. I can sense a lot of...interest from the group, but benign, she transmitted via their implant channel, smiling as she did. “It’s nice to meet you.”

 

“I should be thanking you two for the unexpected surprise and privilege of bearing witness to such a demonstration of martial skill. In fact,” he paused, raising his hand and gesturing, “That’s just what I’d like to do. Would you and your lovely wife please join us for dinner at the Luxdraught?”

 

Mirdala looked around to see the rest of the class having dispersed with the sparring demonstration over. Looking back at Kandor for a few moments, she answered with an uncertain “Ja” followed by a more certain, “Ja, I don’t think we had any plans for this evening. What time?”

 

“We’ll see you at 7:30. I trust you know where it is?”

 

“You’ll find we’re pretty resourceful,” Mirdala responded with a nod and a wave of her hand as the man gave a small bow and took his leave.

 

She caught the bottle of water Kandor tossed her way in her left hand and took a long drink. “Trying new things right?”

[Moon Knight]

Honestly, eating a fancy dinner with strangers was on the list of things Kandor was hoping not to do while on Borleais, and he hadn't expected Mirdala to be interested in it either, but he couldn't fault her for being open to new experiences when they had come here partially to find them. Perhaps even more distasteful to him than the impending hour of small talk, though, was the way that Jaris Drex had gone about it. He and Mirdala had not sparred in order to show off their abilities or gain the admiration of their classmates, and he placed no value in the recognition of his abilities outside of a professional context, so the idea that someone would wish to express their appreciation for what was by no means intended to be a spectacle was bizarre and unwanted.

 

But he would go along with it. A few hours later the two Mando'ade disembarked again from their hotel room dressed for the occasion. Kandor was wearing something that Deren or someone else had found for him -- a well-tailored dominantly-white suit that had buttons covered by a large flap that closed across his body to pin with a small clasp to his opposite shoulder, giving it a distinctive look suggestive of a military dress uniform while also not requiring a tie; furthermore it allowed him tuck a small blaster pistol into an armpit holster to satisfy his sense of caution. Mirdala wore the black dress from her mission on Coruscant, with a mid-length skirt, a modest trim that covered most of her scars, and sleeves that came just over her elbows. Not as extravagant as what she'd worn on Hapes, Kandor found it nonetheless incredibly flattering and told her as much.

 

With a little help from a holomap, they successfully located the Luxdraught and arrived about two minutes early via a turbolift that took them up to the dining area high above ground level. Perhaps the nicest restaurant in the resort, it was awash in reds and golds, wealthy patrons being attended by stylish waitstaff and a large transparisteel window overlooking the rest of the complex, which would no doubt light up as the sun set over the next hour. Drex and his wife were already there, and Jaris came up to them when he noticed them and invited them over to their table. His wife, Maeve, was dressed immaculately, but her demeanor was not one of a doddering socialite; rather, she seemed to appraise the two even as she was introduced and remained attentive from there onward.

 

"So you two clearly have some combat experience, to have skills like those," Jaris said once introductions were out of the way. "I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. Was that Teras Kasi, Yaren?"

 

Kandor raised an eyebrow. "Surprised you recognized it," he said. "Have much martial arts training yourself?"

 

Jaris waved his hand modestly. "Really little more than a hobby," he answered. "But you must be some kind of military, right?"

 

"Something like that," Fett answered. He glanced at Mirdala, deciding to let her answer for herself since he didn't know how evasive she would decide to be.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

"Commissioned Constable for the Journeyman Protectors," she answered, allowing the couple to draw whatever conclusions they might from that information. She'd learned much with her time training with Viscount and Deren, including how to provide just enough information and not challenge the assumptions people made. There was often more information to be gleaned from the assumptions people made than the cost of the information given.

 

Jaris glanced at his wife as he let out a low whistle. "Contracted Law Enforcement for the Mandos, huh? No wonder you two know how to fight so well."

 

"I did my part during the last Galactic War on the side of the Corellians as a ship mechanic," Maeve offered with a smile and a glance at her husband that caused him to shift the conversation topic toward the menu as the couples made their selections.

 

"You didn't say what you did," Mirdala asked in a tone that was some combination of demure and pointed at the same time.

 

"Indeed, I did not. I assure you, it's nothing so interesting as your jobs. I'm merely a well-paid cog in the machine that is business. Acquisitions mostly," he waved his hand dismissively, once more changing the subject. "You two have any kids?"

 

Mirdala smiled slightly and looked at Kandor as she replied, "We're newly married. It's a bit early to start thinking about such things. Still getting used to the ‘married’ part before we add 'parent' to the mix." Under the table, her hand found his and squeezed it, but from what their eating companions could see there was nothing about the question that had struck a nerve.

 

“It’s always good to figure that part out first,” Maeve remarked, apparently nudging Drex under the table judging by the way he awkwardly jumped slightly. “It was nice of you two to agree to join us while on vacation. We just enjoy meeting new people from across the galaxy.”

 

Lately when I’ve met someone new they’ve been trying to kill me, Mirdala thought to herself. Instead, she nodded politely. “What sort of ships did you work on during the war?” she asked instead, content to shift things to ships and engineering for the duration of the meal.

[Moon Knight]

It wasn’t until dessert that Jaris steered the conversation back in the direction of their military experience. "So, not only can you two fight, but your wife also seems to be an accomplished engineer and slicer. Have you given any thoughts to possibly looking into something more lucrative, say private contracting?"

 

Beside him, Maeve pursed her lips. "I’d thought you’d promised not to work on our vacation?"

 

Jaris turned toward his wife apologetically. "I know, but you can hardly expect me to pass up an opportunity to recruit these two. You should have seen them fight, and that was just a spar against the other."

 

Kandor put down the glass of water from which he'd been sipping. He'd been fairly quiet for most of the meal -- while he was perfectly competent in all the subjects discussed, he simply didn't especially care for the idle chatter. The skraan had been decent and he'd found something with some substance to it, but he got the sense that the restaurant's high price point was more about its exclusive atmosphere and the presentation of the dishes than the actual quality of the meal. He could admit at least that it tasted better than ration packs, particularly dessert, a course he so commonly eschewed.

 

At any rate, he wasn't at all surprised to learn that the man had been playing an angle the whole time. He supposed the good news was that his cover was tight and Jaris had no inkling that he was trying to recruit ShadowFett. "Thanks for asking, but these days I work for myself," he answered, his face a neutral mask as hard to read as his buy'ce.

 

Jaris shrugged. "You could still maintain your autonomy. I could set you up with--"

 

"Sorry, not interested," Kandor interrupted flatly. Definitively.

 

Jaris looked a bit ruffled by his tone. He seemed like he was about to say something when his wife gently put her hand on his arm. "We understand perfectly," she said. "You'll forgive my husband if it seems like he strung you along just to make his pitch. Allow us to pay for your meal."

 

Fett gave a shallow nod. No doubt Jaris' contracting company would pick up the bill. He finished his water as Maeve flagged down the waiter, and a moment later he and Mirdala got up to leave. "Thanks for the invite," Kandor said in the same level tone before turning and heading for the door.

 

"Maybe not all new things are good," he said quietly to his riduur as they entered the turbolift to head back down. "But I'm not quite ready to give up. What do you say we look around the casino?"

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

((Co-Written))

 

“I’m good with a ‘no more dinners with creepy strangers’ rule,” she shook her head in apparent disbelief of just how poorly the meal had gone. “The aruetiise certainly seem to like their indirectness. As far as the casino, the closest I’ve encounter I’ve ever had has been a handful of illicit backroom gambling rings.”

 

“I should take you to the Golden Link sometime. Although,” he added after a moment, “I’m not positive how welcome I would be there after the Heist.”

 

Mirdala reached out and palmed the turbolift stop switch, “Say what now? Heist? I’m guessing during your Black Sun days? Or was this when you were dealing with Mellanie and Kalyani’s fathers?”

 

He scratched his head. “Two separate events, actually,” he said. “There was the infamous successful heist organized between Black Sun and some other shady types, and I played a bit part. A while later Piccolo asked me to go back and see if I could pull off a smaller heist of my own. That’s actually how I came to own Flirt. Sort of recruited her for the job.”

 

Re-engaging the turbolift, Mirdala stepped back and crossed her arms. “You certainly kept busy. Being with Black Sun left you no shortage of work, I’m guessing?”

 

“There was always something going on. Much of it was legitimate -- bounties and contract work. But I couldn’t ignore the rest of it forever,” Kandor explained.

 

She nodded as the doors opened onto the walkway leading to the brightly lit casino. Even at the short walking distance, she could hear the cheerfully melodious chimes and dings that proved to be a siren's call for so many hoping to test their luck against the house. “We wouldn’t have met, or if we had, it wasn’t likely to have been on the same side.” A strange smile spread across her face as a thought crossed her mind. “I doubt you would have taken a job for them like the one that took the cantina from me. I don’t see roughing up local businesses on some backwater world to be quite your style, even if Black Sun is moving in to run things.

 

“Tracyn was an idiot,” she added suddenly. “So brash, so short-sighted. It’s what got him killed. That place may have been a tiny hole in the wall, but it could have proved a vital ground for intelligence gathering if he’d had half a brain to play along. And," she paused, her voice trailing off, "I’m not even sure why I’m talking about this.” Her arm snaked around his waist as they walked together. “All about the future and moving forward, right?”

 

He smiled. “Taking our lessons from the past, as always.”

[Moon Knight]

((More co-writing.))

 

The floor of the Borleaisian Bounty Casino was abuzz with a flurry of activity and the noise level that had carried into the evening air had only intensified once they entered the double-doors staffed by a pair of Ishi Tib. Mirdala’s attention was immediately drawn to the flame-like sculpture rotating under the grand rotunda as it slowly turned and the kinetic nature produced artful movements that made it seem to passibly mimic a dancing flame. In several directions there were banks upon banks of various gaming machines as well as nests of gaming tables nestled within.

 

“Want to try something low-stakes?” Kandor asked her. “Most of the card games are fairly simple.”

 

2277’s voice came over their private channel into their implants. “If you wish to increase your odds of winning, I am more than happy to provide statistical analysis of the most correct decisions.”

 

“I’m good with watching and walking. Never cared much for games of chance,” she answered, clearly still adjusting to the overabundance of visual and auditory stimuli.

 

“Suits me fine,” he said as they walked past a sabacc table where a young human man looked to be on the edge of having a breakdown while a Shistavanen gave him a toothy smile as the cards outside of the interference field suddenly changed value. Fett hadn’t actually played sabacc, though a Moon Knight or two had moonlighted as card hustlers.

 

“You know, the noise level of this place is much higher than I expected. I guess people don’t really seem to care when they’re hungry to win more than they came in with,” she observed after they’d walked for a few minutes, her arm locked with his. “Even the nightclub I danced in wasn’t as loud as this with any of the acts, and I lived next to that place for weeks.”

 

Kandor looked at his wife. “I take it that was Deren’s doing? Have to admit it’s not the kind of cover mission I see you volunteering for.”

 

“It was Viscount’s idea, but training with him was mine. We needed something that would appeal to the mark and I happened to be just his type.” Her cheeks flushed slightly. “It was a challenging mission for so many reasons, not the least of which was coming to terms with putting myself in that sort of potential situation again. The guy was an absolute entitled predatory creep.” She had to stop herself just shy of using Kandor’s name, remembering he was “Yaren” while they were on Borleias. “At least I got pretty good at dancing with a sword and he got dead for funding my brother’s black ops projects that took my uncle.”

 

She took a seat in front of one of the brilliantly colored gaming displays since they hadn’t really seen any other seating other than at the central bar that ran the length of the floor. There wasn’t a whole lot of foot traffic in this area for some reason and with the noise level, there was little chance of the two of them being overheard. “It was really hard not to gut the guy the first night, especially when he thought he was getting me drunk enough to agree to leave with him. I learned it’s possible to accomplish a mission with a team you don’t entirely feel comfortable with or trust beyond their ability to be professional.”

 

Mirdala had never quite been able to place what it was about Vibborin that had made her so uncomfortable. She didn’t think it had anything to do with sharing an apartment with a total stranger. It might have been in the way she could feel him watching her when he didn’t think she was looking.

 

“And there I go again,” she smiled up at Kandor, “Can we change the subject, please?”

 

He squeezed her hand affectionately. “It’s natural to look back in a time like this. Feels like we’re transitioning now that the war is over.”

 

“But to what? Your organization? Hunting?” she asked earnestly. “Tell me about this bounty you found again. The one on the Sith.”

 

“Darth Quietus,” he said. “Powerful dar’jetii, been around forever seems like. During your investigation on Coruscant, he actually showed up at Kuat Drive Yards and commissioned a special ship. Think something like a Star Destroyer, but with most of the weapons stripped down and the insides turned into some sort of casino resort probably not that different from this one.”

 

“So a hostage ship?” she interjected, slightly horrified.

 

“Exactly what I thought. Hasn’t been used that way yet, though,” he noted. “In any case, KDY went ahead and filled the order, but I had them slip in some devices Quietus wasn’t informed about that would allow CoreSec to locate and partially disable the ship if something happened. Being among the very few people who can even link the Shadow’s Gambit to Quietus personally might give us an edge on finding him.”

 

“Do you still have access to your CoreSec codes? You never really resigned your commission with them, did you?”

 

“Technically I’m on extended leave. But finding the Gambit isn’t the challenging part -- it’s meant to attract visitors.”

 

“Well, I’m surprised someone hasn’t tried calling you in considering everything that’s been going on with the GA,” she intoned. “You can ask Soresh, leave isn’t indefinite. They’ll expect you back sometime. You know with my commission, I’m free to roam and I’m not bound to the sector, right?”

 

Kandor shrugged. “I’ll resign at some point. Just not quite ready to burn that bridge just yet. I was never a great cop.”

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

“That’s why you married one,” Mirdala quipped. There were a few seconds of silence as she paused to remember those she’d been close to during her own tenure with the organization. “I don’t consider my bridges burned with them. I’ve still got friends. And we never did follow up to see if whoever was behind the attack on Coruscant was identified or who made it.”

 

There was a slight twinge of guilt in her voice, though they could hardly be faulted for the event slipping from their minds. They’d only decided to go help with the investigation when she was kidnapped and tortured by the man who’d turned out to be her father-in-law. Judyc Viba had also held the keys to proving the imminent war on the sector was a reality.

 

“We’re only two people in a galaxy of trouble,” he reminded her. “We can’t get involved everywhere. Quietus might be a worthy target.”

 

“What else do you know about him? Is he like Geki or Ar-Pharazon?” she asked recalling her encounters with two of the Order’s most infamous leaders.

 

“He’s one of their strongest,” he said. “At one point I believe he was the Dark Lord. Haven’t faced him myself before but there have been atrocities attributed to him.”

 

“Let’s do it, then,” she agreed with more conviction than she’d had the previous day when he’d brought it up. “He’s still a Sith, and if someone wants to pay us a ridiculous amount of credits to do so, then so much more our gain. So we just head to the Shadow’s Gambit and see what we can find?”

 

Kandor tilted his head. He was glad to hear she was convinced it was worthwhile, and her willingness to start planning on such a move signaled in many ways that she was getting stronger again. “More or less. I’m sure if we poke our noses into enough places we’ll either get a lead or maybe even his attention.”

 

“If the Gambit is anything like this, then it was nice of Deren to leave us the wardrobe for the operation,” she remarked, thinking aloud. “You said we need to repair your kit and make changes to mine, we should probably start on what we can tomorrow. I don’t think there’s anything that will need reforging, but I’m sure I could find a place around here if it came down to it.”

 

He smiled. “I agree it’s not too early to start planning, but there’s no rush to get out of here,” he said. “And right now there are a few other things I wouldn’t mind thinking about in our hotel room…”

 

Mirdala laughed and took his arm again easily following his line of thought. “You win. Let’s get out of here.”

 

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

 

When they arrived back at their room, Mirdala offered to take his jacket, noting that he’d been fussing with it on the way up to their room. Neither of them was particularly used to formal affairs and the clothes that often went with them, but one of the reasons she’d bought the dress she was wearing was because it was actually comfortable.

 

She’d just rehung the jacket on his side of the walk-in closet and turned to her own side when she saw the familiar white box. “He didn’t…” she laughed and contemplated how she wanted to handle the sudden reappearance of Deren’s inappropriate wedding gift as she slipped out of her own dress and unstrapped the thigh holster that had concealed a small blaster of her own.

 

There was another bag she hadn’t told Kandor about and had even shoved it to the back of the closet wondering what in the world the salacious Twi’lek had been thinking. “Two can play at this, cyar’ika,” she whispered as she unzipped the bag.

[Moon Knight]

Kandor unbuttoned the top of his shirt so he’d be a bit more comfortable and sat down in an armchair near the bed. When Mirdala didn’t immediately emerge from the closet he smirked, wondering if she had stumbled upon the box he’d surreptitiously left for her to find when they’d headed down for dinner.

 

A couple minutes later, he got a bit more than he’d bargained for. The lights in the apartment inexplicably dimmed and then the built-in sound system sprung to life, playing something in an exotic-sounding double harmonic scale, sonorant wind instruments and drums foretelling what was to come in a fashion evocative of distant desert nomads.

 

The closet door opened and Mirdala emerged, wearing not Deren’s gift but a fiery orange-to-yellow slit skirt and crimson scarf that wound from her neck around her exposed midriff. She moved fluidly with the beat, her dance in some ways martial and not entirely unfamiliar to one whom had seen her fight.

 

Kandor was at once transfixed and taken aback. He’d normally describe Mirdala as modest, and she’d blushed even when describing the mission to him where she’d learned these skills. To see her put them to use, doing something even slightly exhibitionist, was in a lot of ways a very new experience and to him a deeply intimate one.

 

The music continued and she danced her way over to where he was sitting, finally perching upon his lap. He reached up and drew her close and kissed her, enjoying a privilege that none other who had witnessed her performances before had.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Over the next few days, the two of them settled into a routine while they worked on their kits. Their main method of exploring the city was their morning runs, an option Mirdala had presented in light of what had happened when they’d joined in on the on-site activities at the resort. Neither one of them really wanted to interface more than necessary with the rest of the guests of the resort.

 

After a lot of back and forth, Mirdala had settled on installing penetrating radar, a pair of sonic wrist weapons (with adjustable settings), and a repulsor unit for her gauntlet primarily meant for use when she had to operate within a ysalamiri bubble and didn’t have access to her Force abilities as a result. Their next target was a Sith and it was a fight she wanted to go in prepared for. The final upgrade had been a cortosis dip for her sniper and verpine.

 

It was simple enough to get parts delivered to their room to work, and a good deal of what they needed for some of the trickier repairs was already on the Justice. What they didn’t have - sonic wrist mounts and a vacuum suit for Mirdala - they ordered since they were about mid-way through their stay on Borleias. Kandor had handled the installation of his spare penetrating radar for her buy’ce while she’d continued her work repairing the electronics in his.

 

Finally, he declared the radar installed and held it out for her to try it for the first time. She sat his bucket next to her on the bed and put on her helmet. Her head rocked back slightly at the onslaught of visual information that was now coming through her feed. All around, above, and below her, she could see rooms laid out similar to their own, several empty, staff working, and guests. Each of the moving objects was painted in a dull red which naturally drew the targeting enhancements he’d done as well. It was all dizzying, but she’d have to adapt or the upgrades would be a liability in combat.

 

She rose from the bed, initially unsteady as her brain tried to process what her eyes were telling her and tried to compensate. Reaching out to Kandor her hand found his shoulder, not out of a need to keep her balance, but more to test how the view affected her depth perception. “This is certainly different,” she admitted as she acclimated enough to feel more comfortable to look around again.

 

Again, she looked from one room to the next watching the moving red images until she suddenly tore her helmet off, her cheeks the same color. “Umm...it works. I’ll need to practice with it more, but not here.”

 

Kandor chuckled, picking up some of the tools strewn about. “See something you didn’t want to?”

 

“Several. Some things are just better kept behind closed doors,” Mirdala turned the helmet between her hands for a moment before asking, ‘Want to take a break and go grab lunch?”

[Moon Knight]

((Long one. Co-written of course.))

 

Already a little bit tired of overpriced resort food, the two Mando’ade headed into Laikos proper to find some skraan. 2277 advised them about a small place on the edge of a rough part of town that nonetheless had attracted attention for the quality street-food appeal of its menu. Borleias brought all types of aliens through it, usually on their way somewhere else, but sometimes even after they’d gone their cuisine stayed.

 

They ended up sitting outside on a shaded patio which was pleasant in the early summer temperatures. The scenery perhaps wasn’t the most magnificent, the streets and buildings not nearly as well-maintained as in the resort, but in a lot of ways Fett preferred the seedier parts of town. Old beroya and cop habits commonly brought him to such places, and there was never a shortage of things going on.

 

The menu was utterly unfamiliar, but once again 2277 proved his versatility as well as the usefulness of his always-on connection to the holonet as he dutifully answered their ponderings about what they might order even before a waiter came to take them.

 

“Twenty-two is certainly never short on information. You mentioned how you wound up with Flirt, how did he come to join the family?” Mirdala asked while they waited on their food.

 

“Not much of a story,” Kandor answered. “Basically as soon as I left Manda’yaim I realized that even if I wanted to work alone I would need a copilot and a finder who could process information faster than I could. I picked him up on, oh, Nar Shaddaa I think. He’s been upgraded and rebuilt over the years to the point where no part of him left resembles his original configuration, but his memory has never been wiped so he’s had continuity of thought since the beginning.”

 

“But, Flirt you recruited? Tell me about that heist. I’m wondering who in their right mind would have programmed a droid with such a, well, flirtatious personality.” Mirdala and the droid had bumped heads the first time Kandor had loaned the slicer droid to Mirdala’s team during the CoreSec mission to Nubia. The droid’s propensity for meddling, especially when it had come to her and Fett’s relationships had often led to threats or promises on Mirdala’s part to reprogram Flirt.

 

Kandor looked mildly embarrassed. “When I used the term ‘recruited’, I meant it fairly liberally,” he admitted. “I needed a positronic processor for the job, but they’re not exactly easy to come by. This one at one point belonged to a Wookiee named Chenlambec, who died some years earlier and passed Flirt on to his son. That son was victim to a Black Sun attack, though I didn’t realize it until later. Flirt was sitting unclaimed in a vault when I went looking for her and she liked the sound of the challenge I presented to her.”

 

“She certainly had her opinions about me when I first entered the picture. I -“ Mirdala’s sentence trailed off as she saw some movement between two buildings behind Kandor and thought she heard a collective scream followed by a heavy WHUMP. If she had, it was quickly covered up by the sound of two deeper voices yelling at each other about being more careful with the “merchandise.”

 

“What do you think that was?” she asked, glancing at her husband.

 

It was the kind of thing that was easy to dismiss. Someone had probably just been carrying a package and dropped it. Kandor, however, stood up. “I don’t know, but I’m going to check.”

 

He immediately moved toward the source of the noise, reminding himself that he was concealing a holdout blaster but not wishing to draw it and raise alarm if this turned out to be nothing. He quickly arrived at the corner of an alleyway, Mirdala close behind him, where they witnessed a large enclosed speeder truck was starting to pull slowly away. There was a distinct lack of spilled merchandise -- whatever the source of the voices, they must have immediately boarded.

 

“Something feel off about this to you?” he asked his riduur. He palmed a small disk-shaped device and, with the flick of his wrist, tossed it up the alley, where it attached to the truck and started transmitting its tracking signal.

 

Beside him, her eyes were closed and she looked vaguely ill as she reached out with the Force. “Sentient traffickers. Better call CoreSec for back up if you’re planning on doing what I know you’re thinking. We also don’t want to inadvertently bust an undercover op either.”

 

Fett started receiving the tracking data via his implant. “We can’t wait for them,” he said, starting off down the alley.

 

“I agree, but we can’t go in to some unknown operation with half a plan either,” Mirdala said, keeping pace beside him. “You track the truck and I’ll alert the locals we’re in pursuit of suspected traffickers. Twenty-two can back us up. I’m with you on this, but we have careful or we could spark something we don’t intend to.”

 

Switching her channel over to the CoreSec bands, she relayed her Constable commission identifier and Kandor’s CoreSec operational ID to the dispatcher and waited on the line while they verified their identities.

 

Meanwhile Kandor was interfacing with 2277. They couldn’t keep up with the truck on foot unless it stopped again. The beskar’ad had access to a map of the city and he began predicting the speeder’s course and providing them with shortcuts they could take on foot.

 

Never thought I’d hear from you again, LT. Though I guess it’s constable now, the familiar voice of Sergeant Izak took over the CoreSec comms. Glad to hear that you and Captain Fett are still operational. I’m granting you clearance to pursue and operate as needed. We’ll be here to back you up when needed.

 

After several minutes of losing ground on the truck and having it disappear from sight, its tracking signal halted. Now at a brisk pace, they caught up about three minutes later to find it where it sat idling next to another identical vehicle. Fett looked at Mirdala, his holdout blaster in hand. “Do we have our permission?” he asked, although honestly very little could stop him from making a move.

 

“And extraction if needed.”

 

In lieu of a better plan, Fett approached the back of the trucks in a combat crouch, blaster ready while Mirdala covered him. He hoped this wouldn’t just be a shootout when he would rather make it to the main chakaar base. Unfortunately the tracker had a limited maximum range so he didn’t think they could risk missing this chance.

 

The back of the truck was unlocked. It slid open to reveal a cramped cargo area, the half closest to the hatch packed with innocent-looking crates. When he climbed in, however, he reached what appeared to be the front of the trailer well too quickly. He pressed his hand against the wall and looked wordlessly at Mirdala as she closed the hatch behind them and joined him.

 

She approached the back of the wall, her head cocked to the side as though she were listening for something. “They’re behind this wall,” she confirmed.

 

Outside they suddenly heard the hatch of the other truck open and muffled voices. Kandor looked around, then pried open one of the large nearby crates. Sure enough, it was empty. ”Guess this is our ride,” he told Mirdala, this time through their private link.

 

There wasn’t time for her to hesitate, but there was just a split second where she had to fight herself to get into the crate with Kandor. She’d never told him how she was transported before and overwriting the alarms going off in her head was extremely hard.

 

Fett found and gripped her hand, picking up on her spiking heart rate. ”It’s okay. We’re in control.”

 

Tell that to my subconscious. He wasn’t sure if she’d meant to transmit the thought or not, but she did change her breathing rate as she honed her focus.

 

Shortly thereafter, the speeder started moving again, the tracker’s continual transmission continuing to give them an idea where they were. Over the next twenty minutes it made one more stop during which something or someone was loaded onto their truck, but their presence in the crate continued to go unnoticed.

 

Finally it stopped again and there was a sustained period of activity outside the crate as apparently the truck’s entire illicit cargo was removed. The Mando’ade continued to wait after it sounded like it died down, but just when they were thinking about making their move, two heavy pairs of footsteps sounded from outside.

 

“See what I mean?” a male voice was saying, “We offloaded everyone, but there are still two lifesigns.”

 

“Stand back,” a gruff voice responded. Suddenly the top of the crate was flung off and Kandor and Mirdala looked up to see the barrels of two blasters leveled on them. “Stand up! Hands where I can see them!”

 

Fett obeyed, leaving his holdout blaster on the floor of the crate. The two criminals staring at them were human, nondescript other than having generally poor hygiene, and supplemented their blasters with suspicious scowls.

 

“Now what are we going to do with them?” the first one asked.

 

“Not our problem,” the other answered. He pulled the trigger in his pistol and two stun bolts lashed out.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

((Co-written - as though you couldn't guess at this point!))

 

Mirdala’s head was pounding as she stirred back to consciousness, her body and limbic brain piecing together where she was faster than her rational mind. Jolting upright to try to get away from the specters that still occasionally haunted her only made her head swim worse and she swore.

 

”Mird’ika,” Kandor’s voice came over her implant.

 

She paused, his voice being enough for her cognitive mind to catch up and start to override the primal survival instincts. Kand’ika? How long?

 

”Three and a half hours, give or take,” he transmitted back. ”You okay?”

 

I think so. She took a moment to evaluate things. She wasn’t restrained the way she and Sandy had been when they’d been taken by Uhalu’s men. She stood stiffly and crossed the three meters from the back of the cell to the old-style bars. “Where are you?” she asked aloud in the dimness. There was a single light that was at the end of the four-cell long corridor that left Mirdala’s cell practically in the dark.

 

“I’m here,” his voice came back from one of the cells closer to the light. ’Can you feel the Force?” he asked over their implants.

 

“I’m okay,” she echoed aloud, gently brushing his mind with the Force. “Are you? Have you seen anyone else?”

 

“No guards yet. Not sure when they’ll be back,” he said. Since she still had access to the Force, they could escape pretty much at will but there was no telling how far they would make it. “Definitely at least a security camera, and, well, there’s something else. There’s an adiik in the cell next to me.”

 

There was a metallic clang that echoed through the room as Mirdala slammed her hand against the bars on her cage, before she calmed herself, realizing that was far more likely to scare the child more than they likely already were. “Are they okay?

 

“I’ll let you know when she wakes up,” he replied.

[Moon Knight]

((More co-writing.))

 

Kandor looked down at the tiny human girl of no more than three that had been sleeping fitfully on a simple mat in the cell next door. Or at least she had been. Now she stirred and sat up, looking both cold and scared. Large brown eyes looked over at Kandor from under an unkempt mop of black hair that looked like it had been braided at one point. Anger twisted in his gut. Trafficking adults was contemptible; he knew not a word in any language harsh enough for those that would involve children.

 

He slid over towards the bars that separated them. She shied back a bit. “It’s okay, ad’ika,” he said gently, slowly wrapping the fingers of his right hand around the cell bars. She continued to eye him warily. “I’m here to help you. Do you know how you got here?”

 

The girl was shaking, whether it was from fear or cold he couldn’t be certain, but after several seconds she merely shook her head.

 

“What’s your name, ad’ika?” he asked, trying to coax something out of her. When she continued to be silent, he tried again. “My name’s Kandor. I’m going to get you out of here. My friends are coming to help us.”

 

“You’re not bad?” she squeaked out.

 

He gave her what he hoped was a convincing smile. “No. Me and my wife, we’re the good guys.” He paused, then reached through the bars towards her with his right hand, palm up. “Can you tell me your name?”

 

“Promise you’ll take me back to my mommy and daddy?” She moved a little closer to him, her little white nightgown utterly filthy from sleeping on the floor.

 

“I promise I will try my very hardest,” he told her, continuing to hold out his hand.

 

“Aerri,” she shifted shyly, but took his hand in hers. “I don’t like it here.”

 

“Well Aerri, neither do I,” he said. “And so it’s a very good thing we met each other.”

 

“What’s going on cyar’ika?” Mirdala called from the end of the hallway. “She’s not hurt is she?”

 

“She’s okay. She’s scared but very brave,” he said, looking over at the girl. He switched back over to their implants. ”Way I can see it, we can bust out and take our chances, or we can call in the cavalry and let CoreSec clean this place out.”

 

He could hear her sigh from down the corridor. It’s safer for the girl if we call it in and wait. As much as I’d rather crack skulls. We’ve got to be the ones responsible for her. I’ll call it in.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

((This co-writing thing is probably going to be happening at least through this weekend.))

 

I’m sorry, Constable, Izak repeated. I’m doing the best I can to convince the higher-ups to devote resources to what you found. The truth is, neither of you are technically active officers with the department.

 

Mirdala growled in frustration, though not into the link. I can understand me, but Captain Fett is merely on leave. Hasn’t he done enough to warrant a bit of a favor? There’s at least one kid down here and who knows how many other sentients. You can’t tell me that isn’t worth making someone at the department look good for a bust like that.

 

Look, Mirdala. I’m going to level with you. Captain Fett ruffled more than a few feathers. There were a lot of people who breathed easier when he left. Things got more mired, but I guess that’s how they like it. I’ll keep trying. Sit tight. Izak out.

 

This time Mirdala opted to pound her fist into the stone wall rather than the metal bars, trying her best to keep from losing her mind from being caged up again. She had to stay calm; she had to be ready whenever the GA (she had to remind herself once again that CoreSec as an organization no longer existed) decided to get off their bureaucratic shebse and show some spine. So far it seemed they had the luxury of time, as there was no sign of their captors. She relayed as much to Kandor.

 

Sensing the girl in the cell next to him picking up on her sour mood, Mirdala took a deep breath and then another, forcing herself to calm down for Aerri’s sake. “Hey Aerri?” she called toward the door, “How would you like to hear a story?”

 

The girl, who hadn’t left Kandor’s side, nodded. Mirdala couldn’t see her of course but could sense the curiosity within the child. “Once upon a time, there was a Treetroll and a Warrior who had a little girl to protect so she could grow up big and strong…”

 

---

 

As Mirdala’s tale of the Treetroll and Warrior who fought a little girl’s monsters wound down, the little girl in the cell next to Kandor had fallen back asleep, clinging to his arm.

 

”That one was about TeVerd, wasn’t it?” he asked her through their private link so as not to disturb Aerri.

 

It was. When I was around six, I started having some pretty bad nightmares. Didn’t learn until much later those monsters were very real. Wasn’t the first time or the last. Regardless of what options I was given, I still seem to be nothing more than a Sith magnet. Maybe it’ll come in handy with our next hunt. She sighed again and fought down frustration with the situation with the local GA enforcement agency. How is she? Do you see anything that looks like she’s been given food recently? We’ve been here for hours.

 

”Asleep for the moment,” he replied. ”You know, all this bureaucratic nonsense is why I’m never going back to my old post. If they can’t get things together soon, we might not have a choice. None of the three of us are going anywhere without the other two.”

 

Agreed, Mirdala stated firmly. There’s only a handful of reasons they’d take any one of us, and none of them are good.

[Moon Knight]

Time passed slowly sitting in a cell, but Fett still had access to his implant, so he interfaced with 2277 and made sure the beskar’ad knew where they were, then started his usual routine of keeping tabs on what was happening in the rest of the galaxy while making idle chatter with Mirdala. For the moment he kept his present situation in the back of his mind; if GA security forces arrived, he didn’t need to do anything yet, and if they didn’t get their clearance, so be it. He had come prepared to do things himself.

 

Aerri meanwhile continued to sleep, still clutching his arm on the other side of the bars from his body. It was starting to go numb, but he didn’t want to disturb her. Looking at the girl he wondered at her situation. There were no other prisoners in this small cell block, none of the victims he knew were on site. He didn’t know exactly how many cells there were due to the low light, but it was perhaps eight. He and Mirdala were likely here because, whether or not their captors intended to eventually traffic them, they’d been singled out because they’d deliberately infiltrated the truck rather than been rounded up. That probably meant they were awaiting interrogation.

 

But he had no idea what that meant about Aerri. Was it possible that the adiik was more than a trafficking victim? Perhaps her parents were elsewhere in the building and whatever grunts had picked them up weren’t sure what to do with a child. Maybe they had other perverse plans for her. Maybe it didn’t matter and the only important thing was that they liberate her along with the others.

 

One thing he knew for certain was that seeing her cling to him like a liferaft stirred within him a compassion that he rarely felt. Before he and Mirdala had truly connected, he’d always kept himself at an arm’s length from the troubles of other sentients. Even when he’d acted on their behalf, he’d done so in the name of justice or the law or his own sense of duty. That style of insulating himself was effective, and it served to keep him clear-minded and objective so that he could focus his efforts on doing as much as he could, trying to tilt the balance away from evil and chaos in the galaxy as a whole as much as he could as an individual. But the woman who was now his riduur had shown him that people could be worthy of a very personal brand of justice. Because they had some innate value that could never be discovered by simply making tallies of lives saved or lost.

 

Both brands of justice had a place, he thought. He was ready to make objective decisions to save as many of the victims that were trapped here against their will as he could. He’d gotten involved without any contact with a single one of them. But now Aerri awakened with him the latter, and he would go to untold lengths in order to see her to safety.

 

Presently the little girl now stirred fitfully, her lip quivering as she gripped his arm fiercely. “No!” she cried out. “Mommy! Daddy!”

 

Moving his arm, Kandor jostled her awake. “Aerr’ika,” he called to her. “Udesii, ad’ika. It’s okay.”

 

Aerri looked up at him, large tears in her brown eyes. “I want Mommy and Daddy.”

 

He reached over with his free hand and stroked her hair as she started sobbing. “I know, ad’ika. And I will help you find them.”

 

But even as rational has his words were to the girl, it seemed her emotions were bigger and her tears and pitch increased. Kandor had no way of knowing what events had brought the child to where she was now, but it seemed as though all of the upset was finding its way out in that moment.

 

From further down the corridor he heard Mirdala stir and begin singing to the girl. It was one of the older songs she’d no doubt learned from TeVerd. The song echoed against the rock and steel, but seemed to do the trick as the girl’s wailing subsided to muffled sobs as she became transfixed on the unfamiliar words of the Mandalorian language. He continued to stroke her hair, grateful for his wife’s experience.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Mirdala kept up the song, repeating verse after verse for several minutes until she couldn’t hear the girl crying any longer. Her throat was getting dry from dehydration, so she kept up the melody as a hum. How is she? Mirdala transmitted through her implant.

 

”Calmer. You have her interest at least,” he transmitted back. Aerri hadn’t let go of his arm, but she was now looking into the darkness towards the source of the voice. ”Vor’e, Mirdala.”

 

The calmer we can keep her, the better it is for her. Still no word from CoreSec, the GA, or whoever his holding the roll of red tape this time.

 

Suddenly Mirdala felt something in the Force, an intent she knew the stench of all too well. Her humming ceased suddenly mid-stanza. Someone’s coming, she warned before moving back into the shadows of her cell.

 

The man who staggered in was Klatooinian and ugly even by their standards. In one hand he clutched a mostly-empty bottle and the stench of alcohol preceded him. He paused for a moment outside of Aerri’s cell, sneering at her and Kandor for a moment before shambling past them towards Mirdala. “‘Don’t mess with the merchandise’,” he mumbled mockingly. “‘Look but don’t touch’. Well this one ain’t merchandise, is she?”

 

Cover her ears and don’t let her see, Mirdala warned, her tone deadly.

 

The Klatooinian came to a halt outside her cell door, leaning up against the bars while he fumbled for a card key that was dangling off his belt. At least she hoped he was fumbling for a card key. He was so inebriated that he wasn’t making much headway. “C’mere, pretty,” he slurred. “I promise not ta make it hurt if’n ya don’t scream.”

 

“I don’t think I’ll be the one doing the screaming,” she countered before reaching out with the Force and slamming him against the cell bars.

 

He staggered back, dazed from the impact and bleeding. “Jeedai witch shutta!” His hand went to his belt again and this time he found a blaster pistol.

 

Mirdala extended her hand, the pistol went skittering toward’s Kandor’s cell, landing within reach of the bars. “Again, wrong. It’s just not your night is it?”

 

She slammed him against the bars of the cell opposite hers as his eyes widened as his mind went to the only other possibility that he could think of -- they’d imprisoned a Sith. The now-frightened man began pleading with the clearly angry woman.

 

Similar to what she’d done with Ab’ki’s remaining lackeys on Shogun, Mirdala used the force to render the low-life unconscious as she used her implant’s signal to hack the keycode to her cell door as well as Aerri’s and Kandor’s.

 

The deep-seeded hatred she bore for those who held such entitlements to take such vile advantage of other sentients bubbled from the surface. She wanted to erase him, to make him the nothing that Lura and the others had made her feel like she was. Before that, she would get every last bit of information about this operation from him he had in his tiny little mind. She knelt down and began stripping back the layers of the man’s mind.

[Moon Knight]

When his cell door lock popped open, Kandor got to his feet. “Aerri. It’s time to go, ad’ika,” he said. He scooped up the blaster pistol and the little girl hurried out of her cell and back over to him, gripping his pant leg and causing him to nearly trip over her as he headed over to Mirdala. Realizing she couldn’t be underfoot during the coming fight, he scooped her up in his left arm and felt her grab onto his shoulder.

 

In the darkness he was having trouble seeing, but it was clear the Klatooinian was paying for his degeneracy dearly. Mirdala was crouched over his twitching body, her face a mask of rage so harsh that it startled Fett even though he knew that the Klatooinian deserved what she was doing to him. “Mird’ika!” he barked. Suddenly the hapless Klatooinian started to scream, causing Aerri to also shriek, and Fett put a blaster bolt through his temple. “There’s no time. We have to move.”

 

Already they could hear voices coming from outside the cell block. Kandor crouched in the darkness, shoulders perpendicular to the door so that Aerri was as far behind him as possible, blaster pistol trained on the door. Two seconds later a trio of thugs burst in. Armed but undisciplined, they charged in brazenly. Kandor opened fire, and with a sound like the crack of thunder Mirdala called on the Force, slamming them ruthlessly against the cell bars and the stone wall as he picked them off.

 

Aerri cried out again and her tiny fingers dug into his shoulder. This was where there were a lot of unknowns. Without his buy’ce and penetrating radar, he had no clear idea of the building’s layout and could not predict when opponents would be coming around the corner. Without his beskar’gam, he couldn’t make any mistakes. But he and his wife were far more than their respective gear.

 

“I know where the nearest weapons cache is and our way out,” Mirdala remarked, focused now on the objective of getting them all out safely.

 

Sgt. Izak to Constable Ad’Goran & Captain Fett. Clearance granted, SWAT teams en route.

 

“Already engaging, we’ve got one civilian with us, will likely have more.” Mirdala responded verbally as she patched Kandor into the channel.

 

“Twenty-two and the Justice are en route,” Fett said, moving to the doorway. He popped around the corner to the left, using the doorway to shield the trembling child in his left arm.

 

“Aerri, do you remember that story I told you?” Mirdala asked reaching out to sense the enemies coming toward their position. The little girl nodded. “The Warrior and the Treetroll protected me, so that I can protect you now. This might be scary, but we’re both going to take care of you okay?”

 

“Weapons cache is the second door past this junction. I have a feeling we’ll need more than borrowed blasters to get out of here or hold up until backup arrives.” she transmitted via her implant, taking a moment to wipe away the girl’s tears.

 

ShadowFett nodded and made his move. He came up to the junction, gesturing to Mirdala with the tilt of his head. He took the corner to the left and she the right. His hallway was clear, but she opened fire and he spun around just in time to see her drop the second of two of the chakaare, one of them managing to get one errant blaster bolt off in their general direction.

 

The doorway wasn’t much farther and it was unlocked. Anyone expecting an armory would have been disappointed. There was a row of disparate blaster pistols, the most recent model among which was probably a decade old. There was also a Clone Wars-era DC-15 blaster rifle and a solitary concussion grenade.

 

“Better than nothing,” Mirdala remarked, replacing the powerpack on her pistol. “These guys really don’t know how to maintain their equipment. I’ll see if I can patch us through to their comm signals so we can avoid their guys as much as possible.”

 

Fett grabbed the grenade and a powerpack or two, but couldn’t take the preferable DC-15 since he was fighting with one hand.

 

“Do you want me to take her?” Mirdala extended her hands, but the girl only clung tighter to Kandor.

 

“Guess not,” he answered. He didn’t have a pocket that could fit the concussion grenade so he was still short on hands as Mirdala grabbed the DC-15 and began checking it. He handed the small explosive instead to Aerri. “Here,” he said. “Hold this for me please, but don’t touch this.” He indicated the activation pad. It took a bit of force to slide the arming switch into position, so it was possible that she couldn’t turn it on if she was trying, but given how poorly maintained everything was, who could say?

 

By now more men were on their way, having picked up on their location. Fett picked his blaster up again. If there was a SWAT team on their way, they didn’t have to raid the other cell blocks themselves. “You said you can get us out of here? Lead the way,” he told Mirdala.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Mirdala worked to guide them away from where the radio traffic had indicated the others were looking for them, but the occasional clash was inevitable as the building seemed to be built intentionally like a maze in order confound just the type of escape Kandor and Mirdala were attempting.

 

They’d just ducked into one of the pseudo-legit looking offices when Aerri patted the back of Kandors shoulder. “Potty.”

 

Kandor did a double take. “I believe that’s a suggestion, Mird’ika,” he told his wife.

 

“Likely not,” she remarked. “Not at her age.” She paused, piecing together the memories of the trafficker she’d ripped them out of. “There’s one on this floor at least. Some exec suite or something for the false business. We should probably move now for our best chance.”

 

She palmed the activation on the door and covered the hallway as Kandor slipped out with Aerri behind her. “Back that way and take a right, look for the corner office. I can sense them searching this floor.”

 

Fett nodded, keeping battle-ready and checking corners as he moved towards the objective; Mirdala and Aerri watching his back. There weren’t many traffickers in this area, or perhaps their attention had been drawn away by the impending arrival of the SWAT team.

 

They made it to the corner suite without incident or accident and Mirdala sealed the door behind them. “Come here Aerri’ika, we’ll get you taken care of.” Kandor gave his wife a thankful look, kneeling to put Aerri on her feet and watching her run eagerly into the refresher while he watched the office door from behind the desk.

 

Mirdala followed in behind to help the girl as needed.

 

By the time they emerged, Kandor was sitting behind the desk and had paired his implant with the office terminal and given 2277 access to the local filesystem. The beskar’ad was applying his full processing power to rifling through the organization’s digital records. They were unfortunately as disorganized as the rest of the operation, but it didn’t take long to find a building schematic and some files that the GA could use in the coming legal battle. Fett asked 2277 to save copies of all relevant files for his own records as well.

 

“There’s a window that we can use for extraction in there. I’ve already pinged the GA with our location. Might be best to just stay here and wait.” She closed her eyes as Aerri ran back to Kandor. “I don’t sense anyone near. What do you think?”

 

“Agreed,” Fett consented as Aerri climbed up into his lap. “I think we’ve asked all we can of Aerr’ika. CoreSec or whatever the shab they’re called can take it from here.”

 

Despite all that had gone on in the last few hours, Mirdala couldn’t suppress the smile when she looked from checking the door back at Kandor and Aerri. “Brave little thing,” she remarked, switching to Basic as they had any time they’d spoken to the girl directly. “Things are going to be just fine. I’m going to have to break some stuff so our friends can get us out of here, so don’t be scared, okay?”

 

The little girl nodded as her hand clutched Kandor’s shirt tightly. “Break stuff, then go home?”

 

Mirdala nodded and picked up a decorative statue from the desk. “Then go home,” she confirmed before returning to the refresher window and smashing it with the statue. Taking one of the white hand towels from under the sink, she swept the rest of the glass away from the frame to ensure there wouldn’t be any rough edges to snag Aerri once the extraction team arrived and they had to make it through.

[Moon Knight]

There was still one issue with the window extraction plan. One good look at it and Kandor realized he wouldn’t be able to squeeze through, although it would be no problem for the small-framed Mirdala and Aerri. The GA SWAT team was now on site, one team working its way through the building from the front entrance with a smaller team coming around back to the extract point with a paramedic or two.

 

"I’ll meet the insertion team and catch up with you both in a bit," Kandor told his riduur in Mando’a before switching to Basic to address Aerri. "I need you to go through the window, Aerri." He picked her up and put her on the ledge, taking the concussion grenade from her.

 

She didn’t appear to be a fan of the idea. She tried to grasp at his arms and immediately started to fuss when faced with the idea of being separated from him. "It’s okay," he said, trying to calm her. "That’s the way home. Mirdala will take care of you until I catch up." His words did little to settle the adiik down, but he knew she would be fine.

 

Mirdala handed him the blaster rifle. "Koyacyi!" She proceeded to climb up and help Aerri through the window and to safety before slipping out herself.

 

Checking the charge on the power pack, Fett turned back toward the danger. With the child safe, his movement was no longer restricted. He kept his implant on GA police frequencies and checked in subvocally. There was one other trick to all of this. "This is Captain Fett. Constable Ad’Goran and the child extracted successfully. I’m heading to rendezvous with the insertion team. I am not in my armor. I am a human male wearing a black shirt and olive drab military trousers. Please check your targets. I will present my badge."

 

The truth was, the GA didn’t have his physical description on record. Until very recently, he had never appeared in public without his beskar’gam. This paranoid level of privacy had bordered on a security risk, and now it meant that without the description he’d provided, he would be indistinguishable from one of the criminals.

 

That taken care of, he moved rapidly through the hallways towards the fighting. Operating solo was challenging without the information provided by his buy’ce and he had to rely on fundamentals. About a minute later, he could hear gunfire, and seconds after that he popped around a corner on the flanks of a group of shabuire that had dug in behind impromptu cover and were exchanging fire with the SWAT team.

 

Without a thought Fett gunned them down from the side, toggling the DC-15’s fire mode to automatic. It was outdated, but it had been good enough for his vode in the Clone Wars and it was good enough for this job.

 

As soon as the last man dropped, Fett set down the rifle and pulled out his wallet with his badge with one hand and raised the other palms toward the corner. "That would be me," he transmitted. A second later the SWAT team rounded the corner and fanned out to watch the hallways.

 

"Captain Fett?" their lead man asked as he approached, looking him over.

 

"Sergeant," Fett greeted him.

 

There was a moment of pause as the man examined him. Clearly he hadn’t ever expected to see anything but the black mask of ShadowFett. "Are you injured? Corporal Darren is prepared to escort you out."

 

Moon Knight shook his head, putting his badge away and again picking up his borrowed rifle. "Extraction not required. How about I add a man to your team instead of taking one away?"

 

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

 

Less than fifteen minutes and a well-timed concussion grenade later, it was over. The trafficking operation hadn’t been that large and not all of its members were willing to gamble their lives against a well-equipped SWAT team. Their victims, however, were numerous. Mostly vagrants and ne’er-do-wells in tattered clothing, there were others that had been vacationers to the resort just as Fett and Mirdala had been, stuck somewhere unfamiliar and far away from anyone they could call.

 

Kandor exited through the front door at the front of a group of them, those whose minds weren’t too clouded by drugs expressing their relief and gratitude. But Fett immediately departed from the group and headed over to an ambulance speeder where he could see Mirdala talking with some paramedics. Aerri was perched on a cot, wrapped in a blue shock blanket and gripping a stuffed toy in one hand and a half-eaten candy bar in the other which she was munching as one of the medics scanned her for injury.

 

"Su’cuy," he said as he moved over to join them. He was greeted by a large smile from Aerri, the first one he’d seen from her. "Is she okay?" he asked Mirdala.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Mirdala hugged him as soon as he was near enough. “A bit dehydrated and hungry, but appears to be fine physically. She keeps talking about bad men at her home,” she answered in Mando’a before pulling away and turning back toward the young girl with concern etched on her face. “You alright?”

 

“You’re taking me home now?” Aerri asked, being helped down from the cot by the paramedic. Kandor didn’t need a private implant channel, empathic abilities, or the Force to read the look on his wife’s face.

 

”We did say adoption was on the table,” she started a little hesitantly via the implant channel. ”It’s not like we couldn’t figure things out.”

 

Kandor searched her eyes for a moment. She thought she could see just the slightest hint of hesitation there. ”We have to do everything we can to find her family,” he answered.

 

Mirdala’s expression faltered, just for a moment as Aerri took her hand and Kandor’s, unaware that a conversation was taking place. ”They aren’t here, Kandor. She says bad men took her. Do you know the odds of finding her family in a galaxy this size? We’ve got better leads on Quietus. Do you know what will happen to her if we just leave her with CoreSec?” She couldn’t help the edge that was creeping into her voice.

 

As though to prove her point she knelt next to Aerri and pointed at the rest of the unfortunate souls who were now being shunted to the waiting medical personnel for triage and treatment. “Do you see your parents? Are they here?”

The little girl looked at the others and wrinkled her forehead. “They aren’t here. Far away.” Mirdala looked up at Kandor, expectantly.

 

”She would enter the foster care system and be put up for general adoption,” he responded. ”Maybe it doesn’t have to come to that. But there may be a family out there missing her and she certainly misses them. They deserve any chance we can give them at a reunion, and the GA is her best shot at that.”

 

He looked down at the little girl and tousled her hair. “We’ll take you home if we can find out where home is, ad’ika,” he said aloud before looking back at his wife. ”I understand how you feel, but this can’t be a battlefield adoption. She isn’t ours to claim.”

 

Mirdala’s jaw tightened. “So she’s to stay with strangers in the hopes that one day they’ll be able to find her parents or someone else to claim her?” There was a bitterness she couldn’t quite keep from her tone. ”Do you know what my life would have been like if I’d been returned to the Sivaaras? Or been abandoned to one of the guilds? Why else would we have been the ones to see and act on this? Why? When we can claim her now and give her a home?”

 

Kandor looked away from her at the ambulance for a moment before bringing his eyes back to her. ”Not all parents are like the Sivaaras or Viba,” he reminded her, his tone remaining level.

 

“Uhhh, you two okay?” the paramedic asked, noticing the odd exchange. “I hadn’t gotten a chance to check the Constable out yet, but I could.”

 

Fett turned to the man. “We’re not injured,” he said in the same instant Mirdala curtly replied, “I’m fine.”

 

The interruption did seem to halt her stronger emotions on the current situation. She knew she wasn’t going to get anywhere with Kandor on the matter. His mind was made up and she had to accept that, for the moment anyway. Aerri wrapped herself around Kandor’s leg again as Mirdala rose to address the paramedic.

 

“What’s standard procedure in this sort of situation? What happens with Aerri from here?” she asked, casting a glance at her husband as she did.

 

“Well, first she’ll have to be processed for evidence back at the station. A social worker is already on his way. I figure they’ll want you all present for your statements, but the social worker will act as the girl’s advocate,” he answered, not quite able to shake the feeling he’d just stepped into the middle of an argument between the two Mandalorians.

 

“And after we’re all done at the station?” She prodded.

 

“She’ll be placed in emergency foster care until they can find a permanent placement or a parent or guardian for her. That’s my best guess anyway. The social worker will be able to tell you more when you meet him. If you folks are fine, I’m going to go help with the others.”

 

“I’m not leaving her without either one of us, Kandor,” Mirdala insisted, scooping up the girl and heading toward one of the transports back to the station.

[Moon Knight]

The local precinct was a bit dingy, just like everything seemed to be in this part of Laikos city. The group of liberated trafficking victims filed in and were immediately met with a line to await evidence collection. Mirdala and Aerri were placed near the front of the line, while Fett was immediately taken deeper into the station to give his statement.

 

As usual, the picture he painted was precise and objective. He and Mirdala had observed an abduction and acted according to their moral imperative to get involved. They had been captured stowing away on the speeder truck, been placed in cells separate from the victims except Aerri, then made their escape when they became convinced that they and the girl were in immediate peril.

 

He did not, however, fail to impress upon them his ire at their slowness to act. A police outfit which was responsible for the safety of civilians could never allow bureaucracy to interfere with their duty, and any law that impeded them was against the public interest.

 

From there they expressed their desire to take him through processing but he had enough sway given what had happened that he got out of it. He might have put aside a lot of his old habits, but samples of his DNA didn’t exist in any record system outside of the Justice and the Enigma and he had a vested interest in keeping it that way. It still caused a bit of a fuss, but then, he tended to have that effect on places like this.

 

Eventually they simply released him and he headed back out into the lobby area to wait for Mirdala and Aerri to return.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

As soon as she could see him, Aerri, now dressed in some sort of brightly-colored suit, squirmed out of Mirdala’s arms and ran barefoot along the hallway closing the distance between them and burying her face in his leg, crying. Mirdala’s expression was mostly neutral as she approached, the male social worker busy with a datapad trailed behind. “I told you he was okay, Aerri,” she intoned, resting her hand on the little girl’s back.

 

“Because you guys are good guys?” she sniffed.

 

“We try to be, Aerr’ika. We try,” Mirdala replied in a slightly somber tone as she stroked the girl’s hair before standing. It seemed to soothe her a little, but her grip around Kandor’s leg remained. “About earlier...I still don’t like it. But I might have a compromise if you’re willing.”

 

Kandor nodded. “Of course.”

 

Mirdala’s voice grew quiet. “I want us to be the emergency foster care for Aerri. Just until they can secure her placement or find her parents. She’s been through enough to have to go through more transitions than she has to. We’ve still got some time on our stay on Borleias and can help prepare her for the next part.”

 

”I still wish it was with us, but I can see your point,” she amended through her implant as Sgt. Izak approached the group.

 

“You’re up LT, I mean Constable,” he interjected as delicately as possible.

 

“And I’ll tell you again, it’s Mirdala,” she replied, her eyes never having left her husband’s.

 

“You have a deal,” Kandor said quietly to her in Mando’a before she turned to leave for her own statement.

 

She paused long enough to address the tall thin man that had been appointed Aerri’s social worker, “Let me save you the trouble Mr. Saresar. My husband and I will take her for the emergency period, she’s already acclimated to us and we can help her with the transition to your regular system.”

 

“But you’re not approved.” Mirdala gave him a look that somehow passed for patient and he realized she wouldn’t back down. “I’ll make some calls and see.”

 

“I’ve served with her before in CoreSec, if it’s a character vouch you need, look no further,” Sgt. Izak remarked, catching up with the situation. He did cast a curious glance Kandor’s way, however. “The child could be in no safer hands.”

 

“Where are you planning on staying with her?” Mr. Saresar asked, still not quite certain about the situation.

 

“We’re at the Laikos Terminus Resort. We’ve got several more days on our stay and I’m sure we can send for a cot for her. I’ll leave Captain Fett to sort the details with you. I’d like to get my statement over and done with so we can all go about our lives.”