A/N: And it's back once more to Taris, so the story continues.
Chapter Three
Alexa felt a slight sense of satisfaction, as she once more walked up to the Hutt who presided over the duels. The 'Mysterious Stranger' had just finished beating every single one of his duellists into the dust. Around her some of the patrons even cheered, now that was something new to her. She was fairly sure that this was enough to catch the Beks' attention. She wordlessly caught the credits the Hutt threw at her while he laughed happily.
"You've defeated every one of my fighters, there's no-one left to fight you! You've brought me good business this day, only a shame Bendak Starkiller is retired, that would have been a match people would kill to see." Alexa easily understood the Huttesse, her aptitude for language holding up. She frowned at the name Bendak though, that sounded familiar, where had she heard that before? Once again the answer presented itself in her mind from somewhere.
"Isn't Bendak a Mandalorian clan?" she asked the Hutt.
"Starkiller is the name I gave him; he's a Mando boy alright. He retired when they outlawed death-matches, refused to fight for anything else. Shame, there's a bounty on his head now because of it, but no-one's been able to claim it." She shrugged off the bounty part and considered just how far flung Mandalorians had become in the galaxy, ever since their defeat. That made two in the local vicinity of Taris, the other being some man in the employ of Davik Kang, a local crime-lord who worked for the Exchange. Alexa shook such thoughts from her head, and strode out of the duelling section. Before meeting this Gadon Thek, she could use a drink, fighting was thirsty work after all. She strolled up and sat on a stool by the barman.
"Another of whatever it was you gave me earlier," she said simply, dropping some of her newly acquired credits on the bar, the barman nodded and complied, dropping the tankard in front of her welcoming hands. She was about to take a drink, when a voice sounded behind her.
"That was some decent fighting out there." 'Male voice, garbled slightly by a helmet,' were Alexa's first thoughts. She swivelled on the stool to face a man outfitted in yellow Neo-Crusader armour.
"The great Bendak Starkiller I presume?"
"And you're the 'Mysterious Stranger.' Shame I'm retired, you might almost be worth my time." Alexa smiled, and took a swig of her drink, recognising the grudging compliment.
"And why are you out here like this anyway?" she inquired, "dar'tome Mando'ade, nim epar'yaim." (separated from the children of Mandalore, in some cantina). Bendak looked fairly surprised at her words.
"Ner vod?" (sister/comrade?) he replied.
"I guess we're both a long way from Mandalore," she responded, speaking Mando'a as easily as basic. He seemed stunned for a moment by her words, and then he sat down on a stool by hers.
"You…. There's not many of our people out here. Where's your armour?" Alexa frowned at that. Wearing armour, made by yourself preferably, was part of the Resol'nare, or the six laws of the Mandalorians. From the moment you step into adulthood, your armour is a symbol of yourself, your culture, it marked you as Mandalorian. Vague images once again floated to the forefront of her mind, the smell of smoke from a forge, the clanging as she slammed a hammer down upon hot metal. As quickly as they came, the memories were lost, and she felt slightly off now, feeling the loss of a part of herself.
"Far away," she replied eventually, downing a large swig of alcohol. "I have to get off this rock before I can get back to it."
"Well, while you're here, you may be able to help me with something."
"And what's that?"
"My time is past," the man visibly sagged beneath his armour, and she put down her drink to listen to him. "Our brothers and sisters are scattered throughout the galaxy, my clan is all but gone. And I am an old warrior with no war to fight, no way to fall gloriously for Mandalore."
"That's why you only fought death matches," Alexa guessed.
"Aye, a way to die with weapon in hand, and battle-lust singing in my skull."
"And you want me to…" she left the end of the question hanging in the air.
"Aye. A child of Mandalore to send another to sleep, fight me in the ring!" She took a moment to consider the offer. This was a man desperate to see his own end, asking for her help. A man of a culture whose words and sayings flitted through her mind, and those urgings were telling her to face the son of Mandalore in bloody battle and free him from this world. She looked at the sagged warrior, his old bones weary, and her instincts made up her mind for her.
Alexa held out her right hand, which the warrior clasped in a strong grip.
"Haat, ijaa, haa'it," (truth, honour, vision) they said together, sealing the pact by ancient laws.
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The arena floor stretched out in front of Alexa, to where Starkiller stood on the other side of the circle. In the stands the fans roared with anticipation of seeing a real, bloody battle to the death. Her dual blades rested in her bare hands, her coat flapped around her slightly in the flow of air. Starkiller stood straight and tall on the other side of the ring, clasping a Mando heavy pistol in one hand, his sword in his other. Wielding both a ranged and melee weapon was no easy task, and few were capable of it, but Alexa knew better than to underestimate a Mandalorian warrior.
As the announcer introduced the pair of them, Alexa flicked her rapier up against her body, the blade right ahead of her eyes. Starkiller copied the action, and together they swept their blades out to the side, solemn in their movement. This was duelling tradition older than any knew, kept alive only by the Jedi and the Mando'ade. Alexa dropped low to a pose, ready to move forward, awaiting the announcer's call to begin as her heart pounded in her chest. Her focus centred on the Mandalorian she faced, all else began ceasing to exist, the crowd's noise fading to nothing, her heart pounding was the only sound now.
As the lights around the arena switched on, she leapt forward, her legs slamming into the floor. Her straight path switched twice as she dodged the blaster bolts Bendak sent her way, and then she was on him. He blocked her first slash of the rapier, and brushed aside her in timed stab with her sword using his blaster. That blaster came up again, and her torso flipped backwards on her hips to avoid the bolt he fired, bringing up her rapier to slide away the hit from his sword that followed. Pulling her body back up, she jabbed with her sword into his defence, the hit of which he took on his right vambrace, bringing his sword around again, though she caught the blow on a backhand of her rapier. Alexa unleashed a harsh kick at his armoured legs, but he barely staggered, being well planted in his stance. Alexa however was left unguarded to the harsh push he suddenly gave to her upper body, taking her unawares. She crashed backwards into the arena floor, her back taking the brunt of the hit as she kept her head up, avoiding knocking it. But now she was at a disadvantage, and on the defensive as Bendak's sword whistled towards her. She blocked with both her blades, forming an 'X' as she pushed back against his strength and position above her. He pulled back, and she rolled quickly to the side as a blaster bolt singed the floor where she had been. Mid-roll she pushed her strong arms to the ground, and flipped her body forwards rather than backwards; taking a forward roll that landed her in a lithe crouch.
Whipping around she dashed forward, looking at the barrel of Bendak's pistol. As he slowly pulled the trigger, she didn't slow or move from her course, switching her rapier to backhand she leapt into the air in a spin, perfectly catching the bolt on her rapier's blade as she held it over her body. As she came out of the spin, she laid a brutal slash with her shorter sword into Bendak's unprepared sword arm, using her momentum and gravity, drawing deep blood and a gasp from Bendak. The gash weakened his sword arm, and he barely parried to the side the next backhanded blow from her rapier. Now Bendak was at the disadvantage against the savage blows she rained down upon him as they danced a deadly quick-step, him shuffling backward while she advanced with each blow. With finality she twisted backwards into him, slapping his blade away with her sword as she pressed herself flush against the man, her head twisted to the right to look into his T-shaped visor. Bendak's blaster flipped up against her unprotected side, but Alexa didn't so much as flinch as she looked into that visor, nor did she as he gasped out a breath, and the blaster wavered. His armoured head lolled forwards to look down, and she joined his stare, to see her rapier buried in his stomach, dark crimson flowing out of the wound.
Alexa withdrew her bloodied blade, and the man fell backwards to the floor as she had done a mere minute before, his sword clattering to the ground out of his grasp. Alexa smartly sheathed her blades, and twisted to kneel beside the man. Bendak struggled to raise his arm, the blaster switched around in his grasp to have him holding the weapon out to Alexa to be taken.
"For the glory of Mandalore," he choked out under his helmet. Alexa took the proffered butt of the weapon, and smiled sadly down upon the dying warrior.
"Re'turcye mhi," she murmured; a final farewell to an honourable warrior as he drew his last breath.
Alexa slowly stood, and at last the roar of the crowd and the announcer smashed down upon her, whipped up into a frenzy by the duel they had witnessed. But Alexa held eyes only for the body in the growing pool of red.
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As Carth and Alexa walked up to the zabrak woman once more, Alexa drew Bendak's blaster from behind her back where it had replaced the Republic one, baring the signature symbol on the butt to the guard.
"Cred enough," she inquired in a faux-innocent sounding voice. The guard gave a look of grudging respect, and activated the door mechanism behind her back.
"Make any stupid moves and you'll have a dozen guns pointed at you," was her parting remark.
"I make it a rule not to make stupid decisions," Alexa replied, and strode into the dingy room beyond.
Rough metal walls contained a dingy room where old bar lights flickered in the ceiling, casting illumination upon the ten or so Hidden Beks standing around. All of them turned to stare at Carth and herself as they walked in, striding towards a desk where a man sat, and a female twi'lek stood protectively by him.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" the twi'lek inquired, bringing a blaster round upon them, her blue lekku twitching, and oddly being a different colour to her face
"Calm yourself Zaerdra," the man at the desk said to the twi'lek. He had dark, weathered skin and ocular implants glinted in place of his eyes. "I may not have my real eyes anymore, but I recognise the 'Mysterious Stranger' that's been all over the holonet this morning."
"Call me Alexa," she quipped to the man.
"According to our guard here, you went and decided to take on the duellers of Taris after she told you to go get some cred. Challenging someone like Bendak Starkiller is a hell of a way to go about it, though by the fact you're still standing I'm guessing it went well." Alexa held up Bendak's pistol that was still in her hand for view, before slipping it back into her holster.
"Bendak is marching far away," she replied, respectfully making use of the Mandalorian term for the departed, those who died honourably in battle.
"Well, what is it the Beks can do for you Alexa?" he inquired, leaning back in his chair.
"Word on the street is you have a bit of a war going on with the Black Vulkar."
"That's common enough knowledge, what do you want about our brawling?"
"The Vulkar have a friend of ours, we'd like to get her back. They're apparently using her as their stake in some swoop race." Gadon leaned forward at that, looking at her intensely.
"She's your friend is she?"
"Aye." Alexa replied simply, not liking the way Gadon was looking at her. She liked it even less when he leaned back again and laughed.
"Well, it's good to know a few Republic personnel made it out of the escape pods alive." Alexa tensed, her right hand resting on the hilt of her rapier as it scraped against her thigh, summing up in her mind the fighting power of the Beks in the room. "Stay your blade, we got no quarrel with the Republic, and we're definitely not friends of the Sith since they decided Taris was worth their time." His words didn't do much to waver Alexa's cautiousness; Gadon was still a gang-leader.
"Well, if you could give us some information to help us get her back, we might be able to put a bit of a dent in the Vulkar fighting forces for you."
"If only it were so simple. She'll have already been given to the race officials, she is deep in a vault, with all the other teams' stakes in the race, and winner takes all."
"I guess we'll just have to go down there then."
"You can't, their security's tighter than a Hutt's wallet. Only way to get the woman, is to win the race. And there just may be a way we could help each other with that."
"Oh really, and how is that."
"Well, you see we had a sure-fire winner for this race: a prototype accelerator engine for the swoop. But, Vulkar stole it from us, and are holding it in their local base."
"I can see where this is going."
"And where's that?"
"We go get into the Vulkar base, most likely a suicide mission considering you haven't done it already, and get your engine. We then bring it back here to you, whereupon you double-cross us and hand us over to the Sith, win the race, and go on doing whatever it is a swoop gang does. Am I about right?"
"Why would we double-cross you? For one thing, I'm a man of honour, and my word is golden. And, if you don't believe me, what would we stand to gain? We'd have the engine, the race, and all that came with it. We'd have beaten the Vulkar, and the Sith, in one fell swoop. And, why would we deny you what you want? I got no use for this woman, I don't deal in slaves, and I don't deal with those bastards upstairs, she's all yours. So, what do you say? You get the engine, we get you the woman?" Alexa studied the man's face carefully. She could sense no deceit coming from him, and his words seemed genuine. Grudgingly she held out her right hand, which he firmly clasped.
"Haat, ijaa, haa'it," she said softly, raising Gadon's eyebrow.
"And what did that mean exactly?"
"That this is a pact sworn on my blood and honour."
"Well, I guess that's good enough for me," he leant forward and placed his hands on the desk. "These are the breaks; front entrance to their base is locked up tight, and guarded with cannons they scavenged from somewhere. But, there's a way in from underneath. If you go through the Under-City, and the sewers, you'll find yourself right under the Vulkar base."
"If it's that easy, why haven't you done it already?"
"I didn't say it was easy sister. Under-City is a dangerous place, rakhghouls all over the place, and the sewers are a maze of new, old and older: you'll need a guide."
"And presumably you know someone?"
"That I do: Mission Vao. She's been exploring the Under-City for years; she knows it better than anyone."
"Gadon, she's just a kid," Zaerdra piped up, her face disgruntled slightly.
"She's capable enough, so is that wookie friend of hers. And do you know anyone else who can find their way around there?" Zaerdra remained silent at Gadon's question, so he turned back to Alexa.
"You'll find Mission somewhere down in the Under-City, tell her that I sent you to help get the engine back from the Vulkar."
"Nothing more specific than that?"
"I'm afraid not, all I can do is wish you good luck. Oh, and watch out for rakhghouls."
Alexa seized the moment to take Carth by the arm and lead the pair of them out of the room, then turning in the direction of the elevator to the Under-City.
"What makes you think you can trust this guy?" Carth asked behind her.
"All he told us was the truth."
"And how do you know that?"
"I just do, I know when people are lying to me, and he wasn't lying."
Carth stopped what would have likely been a comment on how could she know that as they approached the Sith trooper who guarded the doors. Before the trooper could demand anything, she wordlessly flashed the access card from her pocket, and he opened up the doors before them.
As the doors closed around them, and they began their descent downwards, Alexa's hand rested on her sword subconsciously. By the warnings for whatever a rakhghouls was, she'd need to use her swords.
Darkness encroached upon the pair as they fell deeper into the heart of Taris.
A/N: Shorter chapter again I know, but felt like the right place to cut it off. Please review and tell me what you think.