Ch. 9

On the planet of Mandalore, Tal Ordo and Obi-wan Kenobi are investigating the leader of the New Mandalorians, Satine Kryze for the possibility of her consorting with the Separatists. Although Obi-wan could handle this mission himself, the Council believed Obi-wan might need some help the Mandalorians version of politics. Tal was just happy that he could go back to his home planet, though he wasn't exactly happy to see that part of his people have become pacifists. To him, that made Satine and her follower's aruetiise. Tal, K1, Obi-wan, and Satine were walking through Sundari's courtyard, discussing what it meant to be a peacekeeper, both Tal and Obi-wan were sharing the same opinion, while Satine had something far off.

"The duties of a peacekeeper are to prevent conflict from happening." Satine explained.

"An ideal definition, but not a realistic one." Obi-wan answered.

"I agree, if a peacekeeper is a proper leader, then how would it look to those under him or her if they allowed their people to be slaughtered with so much as least…" Tal was interrupted by an explosion sending him flying a good hundred feet away, and knocking him unconscious for a couple of seconds. When he awoke, he saw Obi-wan ordering the surrounding to people to stay where they are in hopes of investigating them, and Tal was about to help when he saw a suspicious man dart away from Kenobi and towards a balcony. Tal and Obi-wan chased after him, and when the man reached the end of the balcony, he turned around and saw Tal and Obi-wan in front of him. Obi-wan was goading the man to surrender, but his answer was blaster fire. Tal then used the Force to pull the blaster out of the mans hand, and with the man weaponless, he tried to tackle Obi-wan, but he was thrown off, when the man realized he was beat, he got onto the balcony ledge, and was getting ready to fall to his death, but Tal activated the fibercord whip on his wrist gauntlet, and the cord wrapped around the man, stopping his fall. Obi-wan then grabbed the cord, and he and Tal pulled the man back on to balcony. Once Tal was sure the man was secure, he detached the fibercord from his gauntlet and decided to interrogate the man.

"Why did you plant that explosive!" Getting no answer. "Answer me you di'kut!"

"Easy Tal, calm down. He's not going anywhere." Obi-wan said.

"Yes master." Tal said. He then reached out with the Force and entered the man's mind, trying to mind influence the man. "Why did you plant the explosive? Who had you do it?"

"Get…get out of my head Jedi!" The man yelled.

"You will tell us who hired you." Obi-wan said, also trying to influence the man. He was about to answer the Jedi's question when a blaster bolt when right through his chest, killing the man. Tal and Obi-wan looked where the shot came from, and saw a man wearing red Mandalorian armor on top of one of the buildings, and then disappear.

"Shab!" Tal yelled as he hit the balcony railing. Satine then ran over to the two Jedi, and when she saw the corpse, she almost fainted at the sight.

"Who was responsible for this!" Satine demanded.

"Who do you think princess?" Tal said.

"Tal!" Obi-wan scolded.

"Do you know this person Duchess?" Tal asked, a bit more calmed down.

"No…but I recognize him; I saw him on Concordia. I can't believe he was a member of the Death Watch." Satine explained.

Meanwhile, in the town of Kyrimorut, Kal Skirata and Ordo stepped into the nearby cantina, took a seat, and ordered something for himself and his son to eat.

"It's good to be back at Mando'yaim." Kal said.

"Kal'buir, why exactly are we here?" Ordo asked, taking a bite out of some uj cake.

"Well, Tal has told me he recently came across a new holo-recording of his parents, teaching him about the Mandalorian culture, and it mentioned that Mandalorians honor their loved ones by wearing pieces of their armor, and he asked me to go to his parents old bastion and try to find either a piece of his mother or father's armor. If we're lucky, we'll find a piece of both their armor." Kal explained.

"How were Tal's parents killed anyway, Kal'buir?"

"Killed by the shabla Death Watch. And not just any member of the Death Watch; Tal's own uncle."

"Why would his uncle kill his parents?"

"I honestly don't know son, but Tal doesn't know he has an uncle, and I don't want him too, because the news may mess with his head, and I don't want him getting distracted in the battle field. So don't tell him, alright Ord'ika? Not until he's ready."

"Okay Kal'buir." The two finished eating and continued their way to Tal's first home. When they arrived, they started looking through the house, and as Ordo went through the farmland, he found the corpse of a Mandalorian, and called Kal over.

"A'ika…" Kal whispered.

"Kal'buir?"

"Adenn…Tal's father…" Kal said as he removed the Mandalorian helmet, and saw the skeleton's head. "Your son is being well taken care of ner vod, just like I promised you when he was born…and I can tell he's going to be a good man, I hope you two are watching over him and his brother in manda."

"Wait, now you're telling me he has a brother? Just how many members of Tal's family are you hiding from him Kal'buir?"

"I'll explain later son. Did you find anything else?"

"No, Kal'buir."

"Okay, now let's go son. I have to think of a way to get this helmet fixed up; not much use with this giant hole in the back where Adenn had been shot. But first…" Kal sent a quick message to Tal, telling him what they found, and then they got back on their speeder, and made their way back to Kyrimorut.

On the planet Concordia, Obi-wan was talking the governor of the moon, Pre Vizsla, who Tal was already suspicious of, since it was a member of the Vizsla clan that started the Death Watch. As Tal watched Obi-wan and Vizsla talk, his wrist comm. Started beeping, and went to a private area in the hanger to play the message, which he knew was from Kal. When he heard that Kal found his fathers helmet, Tal was practically overjoyed, and sent a message to Kal, thanking him. Once Tal sent the message, he went back to Obi-wan to see him getting on a swoop bike.

"Master, would like me to join you?" Tal asked.

"I think that'd be best Tal." Obi-wan answered.

"Very well, come on K1."

"Just so you know, I'm against all of this." Satine said.

"I'd be insulted if you weren't." Obi-wan said with a smirk, and he, Tal, and K1 sped off on their swoops. A few hours later, they arrived at an old mining facility. The three walked in, and came across a row of Mandalorian armor equipment such as helmets and jet packs. Tal looked at the helmets with disgust as he saw that the Death Watch was using True Mandalorian helmets, but he held his temper and continued to look through the facility. Obi-wan then picked up a helmet and look at it, and heard Tal activate his lightsaber. Obi-wan put the helmet down and saw Death Watch soldier charge at him. Tal threw his lightsaber at the soldier and K1 tried to shoot him with his DC-17, but they both missed. Obi-wan activated his own lightsaber, and Tal pulled out one of his disruptor pistols when both Jedi noticed that the soldier disappeared.

"I'm here on a diplomatic mission! Under the protection of the Duchess of Mandalore." Obi-wan said.

"We do not recognize her rule!" Another soldier said as he fired at Obi-wan, and then tackled him, knocking the lightsaber out of Obi-wan's hands. The other soldier appeared out of no where and shot at Tal, getting a lucky shot to the padawan's shoulder. The Death Watch soldier was about to shoot Tal again, but Tal Force Pushed soldier into a wall and held the lightsaber to his neck.

"It's about time you Death Watch get what's coming to you!" Tal said, and he raised his lightsaber to finish off the warrior, when the other Death Watch, who just finished knocking out Obi-wan, hit Tal with the butt of his gun, knocking him out as well. The two then spent a couple of minutes looking for K1, but the droid disappeared, and they knew the Jedi would come back around eventually, so they had to get the two ready for when their leader shows up.

As soon as Kal and Ordo got back to Kyrimorut and went to a Mandalorian Smith to have Adenn's helmet repaired, and while they were waiting, they walked around the town, just to kill time.

"So Kal'buir, do you know where Tal's brother is?" Ordo asked.

"No son, they were separated after his parents were killed and he became a Jedi. I meant to look for him, but then I became a Cuy'val Dar, and I never got around to after I met you and your brothers." Kal said with a sigh, putting his hand on Ordo's shoulder.

"You want me and Mereel to try and find him?" Ordo asked.

"You can if you want to Ord'ika, don't let me get in your way. Just don't put yourself in harms way, alright?" Kal said.

"I won't Kal'buir."

"You know Tal sees you and your other brothers as his own brother's right?"

"I know, we do too, which is why I think Tal should be with his real brother."

"You ad'ike are his real brothers, you'll just be looking for his biological brother." Kal said. After a couple of hours, the two checked on the helmet and the Smith repaired the armor and updated the Heads-Up Display systems. Kal paid the Mandalorian for his services, and got ready to find a way to smuggle onto Tal's cruiser.

When Tal regained consciousness, he saw five red figures in front of him, all of them wearing True Mandalorian armor, and the one in the center wearing a shoulder cape with the True Mandalorian insignia on it, but he knew it was all Death Watch Soldiers.

"You're finally awake…good. I was hoping you'd wake up soon, so you can see me kill your Jedi Master, that weak Duchess, and then you." The one wearing the cape said.

"I won't allow that to happen Vizsla!" Tal spat, and the Death Watch soldier just looked at the padawan and then took his helmet, revealing that he was indeed Vizsla.

"Impressive; you figured out what Satine and Kenobi couldn't. But it won't help you any; you three will all die anyway." Vizsla said, and Tal just smirked.

"We'll see." And with that, Tal used the Force to do a back flip and escape the grasp of the warriors holding him, and used the Force to push them into the five soldiers. He then used the Force to get his lightsaber and pistols back, and put the pistols back in their holsters and activated his lightsaber. Vizsla then got out the hilt of what looked like an ancient lightsaber, and activated it, revealing a black blade, and Tal read about that weapon, known as the Darksaber, and how it was stolen from the Jedi hundreds of years ago.

"My ancestors stole this weapon from your temple during the Old Republic over a thousand years ago, and several Jedi have died by its blade. Prepare to join them!" Vizsla exclaimed, and charged at Tal and swung at him, but Tal blocked the blade, and countered by swing towards Vizsla's head, but the warrior ducked and kicked Tal in gut, and then punched him in the face. Taking a couple of steps back, Tal regained his stance, and Force Pushed Vizsla a few feet back. Vizsla got back on his feet and pulled out a blaster and shot at Tal, and the padawan blocked every shot, and used the Force to grab Vizsla by the foot and drug him around the dirt field for a few seconds and then rammed him into a wall. Tal then used the Force to grab Obi-wan's lightsaber from Vizsla's belt and activated it.

"You're a much more skilled warrior than what I was expecting, but you still won't beat us all!" Vizsla said, and charged again, but Tal blocked the swing again, and countered by catching the blade with Obi-wan's. With a quick turn, Tal was able to kick Vizsla in the side, and knocked the warrior a couple feet to side, when suddenly, Vizsla was sent fly a few feet away, and Tal looked behind him and saw Obi-wan and Satine over at the elevator.

"You have a nice nap, Master?" Tal asked Obi-wan with a smirk, and threw his lightsaber to the master.

"Not really, no." Obi-wan said, and he activated his lightsaber and stood next to Tal. Vizsla looked at the two Jedi and realized it was a losing battle, so he deactivated the Darksaber and got behind his warriors.

"Warriors, finish them!" Vizsla ordered, and the Death Watch soldiers were about to fire their rockets at the two Jedi, when a blaster bolt hit Vizsla in the shoulder, and knocked him on his back. Four more shots followed shortly after, and it killed the remaining Death Watch soldiers.

"I have followed your orders exactly as you requested master." K1 said, his voice coming from Tal's wrist comm..

"Very good K1; you can reveal yourself now." Tal said, and suddenly, K1 appeared in front of the Jedi a few hundred feet ahead of Tal and Obi-wan, holding his DC-17 sniper rifle.

"I must admit, you're droid is very impressive and useful Tal, despite its…aggressive nature." Obi-wan said as he walked over to Vizsla, who was about to get up and most likely run away, but Tal got out a small blaster he kept in his belt, and shot it, the projectile being several blue rings, meaning it was a stun shot.

"Well governor, it seems things didn't work out as well as you were hoping." Obi-wan said, getting some cuffs from his belt and put them on Vizsla's wrists.

"The Death Watch WILL take control of Mandalore! We're a far more spread out than you want to admit Duchess, and even farther than what you told Kenobi!" Vizsla yelled, when suddenly, Tal killed Vizsla in the face, and it knocked him unconscious. Obi-wan then picked up the Darksaber and attached it to his belt.

"Are you alright Tal?" Obi-wan asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just exhausted." Tal answered, and Satine walked over and looked at Tal.

"Well, I feel I must thank you Tal, for assisting in the arrest of the Death Watch leader." Satine said hesitantly.

"Well, maybe you should apologize to Master Kenobi here for lying to him about the Death Watch." Tal said, and Satine just sighed.

"I suppose you're right, since you'll probably tell him anyway; Obi-wan, the Death Watch is more than just a terrorist cell, it's a complete segment of Mandalorians that have been warring for control of Mandalore with the True Mandalorians for over fifty standard years…." Satine continued to explain the history of the Death Watch, but Obi-wan interrupted her.

"I already know about the Death Watch Satine; I've dealt with them before." Obi-wan explained.

"Oh…well, now I suppose why you want to know why I lied to you…" Satine started, but was interrupted by Obi-wan again.

"I already know that too; you want to stay out of the war, and if we found out that the Death Watch were in league with the Separatists, the Republic would send a military presence, which what you want to avoid…I'm afraid you may no longer have a choice in the matter." Obi-wan said, and he and Tal made their way back to the Concordian capitol city, ignoring Satine's protests, they eventually made their way back to Mandalore, and Anakin was waiting for them.

"Commander Ordo, General Windu has requested that you return to his fleet immediately; the Seps are attacking Dantooine and he says you're needed as soon as possible." Rex said, and Tal just nodded and got onto a spare shuttle, and flew to his next assignment.

End of Chapter