† Vendetta Squad †
"Haar'chak! I think they found me! Alor, what do I do now?" Fear was evident in Abhay's voice.
"K'oyacyi! I'll come and get you." Saam watched in stunned silence as Jatne started to sit up on the beam. Her hand was tightly wrapped around the barrel of her rifle as she moved to climb down.
"Hold on a second! You can't go down there! They'll see you and know that there are more of us!" Saam tightened his legs to better hold on to his perch and carefully leaned over to pin Jatne back against her metal beam. "You're dini'la! Let's just pick them off from up here."
Wearily, Jatne laid back down on her stomach. After a quick adjustment she had her sniper rifle propped up in front of her.
Even though their HUDs* had the ability to zoom in, she preferred to use her rifle's scope. Just as she had guessed, the Trandoshans were starting to circle around the compartments.
"There are too many to fight." Even with Trandoshans walking right below him Salvador managed to sound calm. "How close are they to your position, Abhay? All I can see is a giant LS Repeater** wielded by a bulbous Trando. He's standing right in my line of sight, the shabuir..."
"Way to close for comfort. I don't think they've actually spotted me, but I did shift positions earlier. Perhaps they caught a glimpse of my armor."
"So what do we do now? We can't just sit here and wait for him to be found!" Saam quickly blinked his eyes several times in rapid succession. His HUD zoomed in on the stacks of supply crates on the outer rim of the platform.***
"I say we fight."
"You said, just a second ago, that there were too many to fight! Why the change of heart?" Saam scowled at the back of Salvador's head.
"Saam, quiet. He's right. we can't just sneak out of this one. I think I have an idea." He turned his head to face Jatne and watched skeptically as she slung her rifle over her back. "Guess what the best part is, ner vod?"
"Me'ven?"
"You get the easy job."
† Vendetta Squad †
"Easy job, my shebs..."
Saam sat still upon his metal beam. He watched wearily as Jatne swung silently from beam to beam. Although she was silent he could still see the shapes that danced across the plates of her armor.
Too bad we can't afford better cloaking devices...
He clicked his back teeth together and eyed his HUD. Within moments a green light started to wink on and off from the far left side of his helmet. He then heard the sounds of breathing over his comlink.
"Any of you guys know what is going on?"
"No," Salvador said simply, "but I'm sure she's got everything under con-"
The distinctive sound of a sniper rifle being shot rang throughout the platform.
Five out of the six Trandoshans holding a LS Repeater hit the floor, dead. Numerous vital spots on their bodies had been torn through by a single well placed shot.
The Trandoshans only took a second to express their surprise before they turned towards Jatne, who was hanging from a beam by one hand. In her other dangled her sniper rifle.
"Viinir! Head for the platform above, I will distract the Trandoshans." Jatne barely had a moment to speak before the mercenaries started to fire on her.
Most of the blaster shots just zipped by her, but two landed squarely on her chest. Thankfully they were from a normal blaster and not the LS Repeater or the slugthrower.† Her armor's shield fizzled from the impact, but held up. Instants after the Trandoshans started to fire she hauled herself up on top of the support beam.
This particular beam was small and close to the ground. While Jatne was hanging from it she was nearly level with the Trandoshans. If they were closer, all they would have to do is jump up to grab her ankle. But for the moment she was safe since they were far away from her position.
The mercenaries, now taking notice of her precarious position, ran to get her.
"Ba'slanar!"
"You expect us to just leave?" Abhay shifted out of his crouching position under the crates. All of the Trandoshans were now running to get Jatne, their backs turned to the rest of the squad.
Jatne wasted no time trying to get away. Luckily for her, the lower beams were closer together and were within jumping distance. After making sure her rifle was secured to her back, she made to jump across.
Her armored feet connected with the metal, sending a jolt through her body. She swayed back on the balls of her feet but quickly waved her arms to regain balance. After righting herself, she jumped again. She was much more prepared for the landing and spent less time righting herself. After a few more jumps she was landing and jumping again within the same second, the Trandoshans chasing after her a few meters below.
"I can take care of myself. I have a plan. Now get moving, before they notice you! Abhay, you are still in charge!"
Salvador swung down from his perch as Saam scrambled along the numerous levels of beams. "I don't like this. We can't just leave her." Salvador watched the departing backs of the oblivious Trandoshans. "She can't handle all of those by herself."
"We have a job to do," Abhay replied, "and she won't be happy if we don't complete it. Let's move." Abhay quickly consulted his datapad before facing his remaining squad mates again. "We need to take the turbolift again to reach the next platform. I'll try to get a hold of Ladimir while we move."
Saam eyed Abhay as he dropped down to the floor, having finally reaching the last of the beams. A click of the teeth later, and he was speaking to Salvador privately.
"This isn't right..." Saam turned to look behind him in the direction in which Jatne had disappeared.
"Yeah," Salvador agreed. "We don't leave family behind."
† Vendetta Squad †
"I've got the ones ahead, you two take the side room." Abhay released another volley of blaster fire into the crowd of Trandoshans that were cowering behind support pillars in the hall. "Clear out the room then we can move on. There should be a door on the far side of the room that leads to a balcony. Ladimir, can you pick us up there?"
"Yeah, I'm on it. Closing in on your location now."
Saam and Salvador took up positions beside the sole door in the hallway. "What took you so long? Why couldn't we get a hold of you when we needed you?" Salvador questioned. At his hand signal, Saam punched the control panel beside the door and the metal plates moved to the side, revealing another dark room.
With practice precision they filed into the room, sweeping left and right. "Clear." Salvador felt around for the controls to the lights. Finding them, he illuminated the room, his night vision automatically deactivating. He then motioned Saam to the other side of the room, instructing him to check the other door. "Hurry it up out there, Baatir. Room is secure."
"I was out of range," Ladimir replied. "The long range scanners were knocked out in the fighting earlier and I wasn't able to contact you until now. The ship has taken a beating. It wasn't built for this kind of close combat."
"At least it's not ours," Saam mumbled. "Can you imagine how upset Sir would be at you if it was our me'sen?"
"I'm trying not to."
"Have you been able to get a hold of her yet? We can't get through to her comlink," Salvador cut in.
"No, not yet. I haven't been able to track her either. I can't get a trace on her whereabouts. Hopefully she's okay..."
"You had better hope so, for your sake!" Saam pried open the door on the far side of the new room, growling. "This is all your fault!"
"Me'ven? What did I do?"
"You weren't here on time!"
"What? It wasn't my - "
"Saam's right, you should've been there," Salvador cut in. His voice smooth and serious.
"That isn't fair!"
"You may be a kid, but if she dies it's your fault. I'll shoot you myself." Saam was seething by this point. "I won't even let Vadim†† have a go at you! I'll - "
"Don't listen to him, verd'ika. It's not your fault. Saam is just upset because most of this happened because of him." Abhay was still returning fire in the hallway but was obviously still paying attention to their conversation.
"How was I supposed to anticipate stun grenades anymore than Salvador, huh? How was that my fault?"
"Everything afterwards was entirely your fault. If it weren't for you, she wouldn't even be here right now. She'd still be on the me'sen."
"Again, how could I guess that? I had nothing to do with her decision to come after us!"
"You were the sole reason she left the ship. You had enough drugs in your system to knock a normal person out cold, you had provoked Salvador into beating you senseless, and then you inject even more drugs into your system. You never take situations serious enough. You have a knack for getting into trouble and we also need to take into account that you haven't been yourself the last few days." The sound of shots being fired died down as Abhay finished off the rest of the Trandoshans. A second later he appeared in the door. "She noticed, as she always does. She has been worried about you. Being the person she is... can you see her just staying on the ship and not coming to check on you herself?"
Saam was silent.
"She is a traditional Mandalorian. Family comes first, and every single one of us is her family, whether we like it or not - whether we're blood related or not. She won't say it out loud, but we are all her brothers and she will do anything to keep us safe. You," Abhay nodded towards Saam, "are the youngest in her eyes. Even though you are older than Ladimir and myself, you are still her vod'ika. You have much to learn about being in a traat'aliit, and I'm sure she feels the need to teach you and protect you, just like she would her real little brother." Abhay and Salvador moved out onto the balcony, closely followed by a pondering Saam.
"I'm old enough to handle myself. I'm a man now, I don't need her to coddle me. She and Vadim took me in and acted like a real family to me for years, but that was a long time ago. She doesn't need to act like that anymore. I don't need a family to raise me anymore, I can stand on my own."
"You had better shut up and take it as a compliment," Salvador added. "You and Vadim get special treatment from her. Don't be disrespectful just because you think it is an insult to your manhood. Aliit ori'shya tal'din. Do you know what that means?"
"Family is more than blood. ††† Yeah, I know, but that doesn't change my age. I can take care of myself now."
"If she believed that and stayed on the ship, you'd be dead right now."
† Vendetta Squad †
Translations for Chapter 6:
Haar'chak - Damn it
Alor - Boss, Leader
K'oyacyi - Come back safely (as used in this tense)
Dini'la - Insane
Shabuir - Jerk (strong insult, can be considered a swear word)
Ner vod - My brother
Me'ven - What? Huh? (Depends on the context)
Shebs - Buttocks (Depends on context for whether or not it's a swear word)
Viinir - Run
Ba'slanar - Leave, Exit
Me'sen: Starship
Me'ven: What? Huh?
Verd'ika: Private (rank), Little Soldier (can be used as a pet name, which it is in this context)
Vod'ika: Little Brother (more of a pet name in this context)
Traat'aliit: Squad, Team
Aliit ori'shya tal'din:Family is more that blood (A sang in Mandalorian culture, a big deal to them)
Notes for Chapter 6:
*HUD: Heads-Up Display. The view screen within the helmet, more or less.
**LS-150 Heavy Accelerated Charged Particle Repeater: It's an intimidating gun that is powerful, but inaccurate. It burns through a 200 round magazine in very little time. It's so big and bulky that only the most trained of soldiers can use it. It has a bayonet attached to the end, too. Clone RC-1138 ("Boss" for those who don't know, from the video game Republic Commandos) called it a "Nasty Weapon." He's a tough guy, so you know that it must be true.
***In some armor there are advanced systems which allow the user to control the suit with simple actions, such as blinking a certain number of times, or clicking their back teeth. This is used frequently by the members of Vendetta Squad. Perhaps this should've been explained more extensively earlier...
† A slugthrower can be considered a 'normal' weapon. It shoots something physical, like a gun here on Earth. A literal bullet leaves the barrel of the weapon, not a laser. This is considered extremely outdated in the Star Wars universe; however, any good soldier knows that they can be a threat, depending on what model and what they're shooting at. In this case, it's bad news for their shields, because it's a shotgun model.
†† When I introduce Vadim to the story this line will make more sense (not that any of you will remember or care by then). Just to clear up, it would take serious guts to stand up to Vadim, which is what Saam is saying he will do if Jatne dies. He won't let Vadim get to Ladimir first, he wants the first hit.
††† This will be explained much more in detail as we go along. However, should anything ever be unclear, let me know. This concept is very important to the story!