Forging a Path

FtF I FtF

Once more in the Gray Side, Doran wasn't feeling too sociable. After escaping Hutt Space and handing off the transport to a New Republic team that specialized in caring for the mass-freeing of slaves (pretty much the norm for Jedi so the team was used to it) the Gargon crew had resumed their original destination towards Kamino. But it didn't make Doran feel any better.

When he and his mom had freed the Zygerrian slaves, not a single slave-life had been lost. They hadn't even needed a timely rescue by a renegade faction of Mandalorians. Yet, they had freed nearly the exact same number as then, had additional fire-support, but at the same time lost over a thousand lives in the mass evacuation. The feeling didn't sit well with Doran. What if he hadn't stuck his head into Sleyheron's business in the first place? Would those thousand people still be alive? He knew he had lucked out that Tracyn's people had only been a short jump away and were able to arrive before the Hutt fighters could do serious damage. If Death Watch hadn't come to save the day, he knew that things would be much, much worse. Not making matters any better was Nate's words to him when he had first reboarded the Gray Side.

"The Altisians could have freed those slaves at any time. But we didn't, do you know why? There are millions, hundreds of millions of slaves in Hutt Space. We can't free them all. Anything we do will make life worse for the remaining slaves. Security systems will be redoubled, their workload will be tripled if anything to make up for the loss of work from the ones 'saved'. There might even be mass executions as a lesson for those even thinking about escaping. You might have freed thousands, but it will be the other millions across Hutt Space that will suffer for those few."

"And what were the Altisians doing that was any better?" Doran had yelled back. "While you all got to relax in high-end apartments and spend more money than most people in this galaxy will make in a year, all those people were suffering, serving you. Sure you toss them a few credits every once and a while. Do them a 'favor' by selecting them for your bed, but in the end, you Altisians are no worse than the other clients that come to the Diamond Block. Apathy is worse than doing nothing."

"And what you did got a lot of people killed," Nate said grimly. "Do you want to look at the local HoloNet report out of Sleheyron? See the damage you are responsible for? Who do you think Gorgo the Hutt will take his anger out on? The Vong are off-limits and he doesn't have the muscle to go against the Mandalorians. It'll be the slaves in his other holdings that will pay the price. Not to mention the ones killed in your bid to free them. At least the Altisian way ensures they all can see another day, can all spend another moment with their families."

"Leave him alone!" the brave young Zeltron girl, Rali Xici yelled at Nate, surprising everyone. "Do you want my sister to be still doing grown-up things with guys so they won't do those things to me? Do you want her to spend another day worrying about not getting enough money so I'll be kicked out and sent to the mines? Jedi Doran saved us, and you're not going to be mean to him!"

His thoughts turned to the small Zeltron girl. If he hadn't tried to be so super-Jedi, would Raxi still have her sister? Would those thousand-plus slaves still be living and not gunned down by the security forces in his hastily put-together escape plan? The 'what ifs' continued to eat at him as he stared out at the passing starscape. The consequences of his actions had gotten people killed, and that wasn't a feeling he liked at all. Worse yet, he glanced down at the small pink head sleeping on his lap. It had taken away a little girl's only family.

Rali Xici had refused completely and utterly to go with the New Republic rescue teams, had clung to him and cried her little lungs out when he tried to convince her otherwise. In the end, after everything that had happened, he hadn't the heart to send her away. He did promise her sister, after all, to look after Rali. The fact that Rali was also Force-sensitive and had formed a small bond with him partially out of reflexive terror at the thought of being separated also played heavily into things. With time to think things out, Doran could tell that Rali actually wasn't all that strong in the Force. Just strong enough to get her in trouble without the proper training.

Ordinarily he would have insisted she go to Yavin Four for training. After all he was hardly qualified to teach any Jedi much less raise a little girl. But with Jintar's situation still taking priority, he didn't have the time to try to convince the six-year old otherwise.

Not all the slaves they had rescued had gone with the New Republic team. In a move that made Dinua exasperated at him, Tracyn had recruited a large number of the able-bodied males and females into her faction of Death Watch—effectively doubling her faction with the thousands that had flocked to her banner. As if that was Doran's fault. Tracyn had just been very convincing and the beaten and downtrodden slaves were tired of living in fear and being trodden upon. To be fair, Tracyn had also made a case for them to join the Mandalorian Protectorate. But the fact that the Mandalorian Protectorate was currently allied with slave-taking Yuuzhan Vong was a big turn off.

Not that it had made Dinua any less annoyed.

Now he sat in the furthest aft section of the Gray Side, trying to avoid the others with only a sleeping little girl and the hum of the engines as his company. He heard soft footsteps on the deck-plating and looked up tiredly.

"You're doing it again," Dinua said in a low voice, entering the back of the ship and sitting on a cargo-crate next to Doran.

"Huh?"

"Being a brooding Jedi," Dinua said, lightly resting a hand on a sleeping Raxi. The silvery thermal blanket that wrapped around her small form was normally meant for adults, so it nearly engulfed her completely. "Stop it. Can't you Force-sensitives feel the feelings of others? You're going to give the little girl more nightmares."

Doran took in a deep breath and let it out. "You're right."

"Of course I am," Dinua said.

"Do you…agree with Nate?" Doran said hesitantly. "That I screwed up big time and just made the lives of millions more miserable because I was trying to be a Jedi?"

"I thought you were rescuing them because it was the right thing to do, not the Jedi thing to do," Dinua said in non-answer.

"Do you agree with Nate?" Doran asked again.

"I am sure the thousands of slaves you rescued would not," Dinua replied, again avoiding the answer.

"Dinua."

"Yes," Dinua said, brown eyes flicking to Doran. "For the most part, I agree with Nate's assessment. We're not saviors of the galaxy. It's not our job to try and right every single wrong we come across. By doing good, we can sometimes cause situations far worse than the one we were fixing."

Doran nodded, bowing his head silently as he fought back another round of tears. The last thing he wanted was to cry in front of Dinua and give her a reason to doubt his Mandalorian-ness.

"But…" Dinua's voice became softer. "I think…were I in your position, had the contacts you did…I'd do the exact same thing. Mand'alor has always said that the only law and justice we need is the one we carry within ourselves. Even if everyone in Hutt Space agrees with slavery, that the laws there say it's okay to treat people as property, if the law within you conflicts, it takes priority. Otherwise, you wouldn't be true to who you are." She gently tilted his head back up to look at him. "To the person I trust with my life and saved me from my own personal dar'yaim."

"Dinua," he managed raspily.

"You did well, Doran Sarkin-Tainer," Dinua murmured.

"Thank you," Doran whispered, eyes closing slightly at the feel of her hand on his face. He opened his eyes and tilted his head slightly as Dinua leaned forward.

"Hey guys, you're in luck!" Nate called out, hopping down from the cockpit section and noisily making his way to the aft. "The merchants in the region say the Yuuzhan Vong aren't this far out yet. Once we get on the major hyperspace lane, it should only be a day or two until Kamino.

"Shhh!" An annoyed Doran glared at the older teen. A wampa-sized space was suddenly between Dinua and Doran, with the former standing and suddenly finding one of the cargo crates really interesting. "Raxi's sleeping."

"Sorry," Nate grimaced. He looked back and forth between Doran and Dinua. "I…wasn't interrupting anything, was I?"

Doran wondered if it'd be fair to use the Force to cause a bunch of tied up cargo-crates to fall on Nate. "No, nothing at all."

"Okay then," Nate shrugged. "By the way, what are you going to do with that one?" He gestured to Rali. "Gargon and Mandalore are not exactly places for her to grow up. If you want, the Altisians can take her in and…"

"No, it's okay," Doran shook his head. "I saved her, she's my responsibility. Once we find the cure for Jintar, I'll contact my parents and they can help her to Master Skywalker and the others."

"The Altisians can give her a freer life," Nate said. "Your Jedi Order is too rigid. After her life of slavery, do you really want her confined by more rules and restrictions?"

"Those rules and restrictions are what keep us from turning a blind-eye to the suffering of others," Doran said sharply. "Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. She'll be a Jedi. A regular one."

"She's too weak in the Force," Nate shook his head. "The Jedi Order will ship her off to a farming project or something out of the way so she won't stain their name. With the Altisians, she'll be treated as an equal no matter how weak her connection to the Force is."

"It'll be up to her in the end. First we need to get Jintar's cure," Doran said firmly, running a hand through the sleeping girl's blue hair.

"Fair enough," Nate said. "Like I said, we should be at Kamino in a couple of days. Rest up until then."

"Should we be expecting anything?" Dinua asked.

"Uncle Maze says that the original facility was abandoned after the Empire razed it for producing illegal batches of clone troopers. The data was backed up in another city, though. One where rumors say that Vader himself later had some sort of operation going on. After the Empire fell though, the Kaminoans hit a recession and had to abandon most of their cloning facilities. Probably no more than a few scavs and junkers tearing the place a part," Nate explained. "A small show of force, and they should leave us alone."

"A quick in and out then," Doran exhaled. "After Sleheyron, that's going to be a breeze."

"Yup," Nate agreed. "We go in, get the data, leave. No heroics, no extra side trips. No stress."

"Sounds good," Dinua noted. "After all, it is an abandoned cloning station. What can go wrong?"

FtF II FtF

"Easy going, not good." Maze noted worriedly as the ship dropped out of hyperspace in the Kamino system. "Nate, sensors say anything?"

"Sensors showing no other ships in the sys…" Nate trailed off with a slight frown. "Uncle, did Kamino ever have any orbiting satellites?"

"Just three moons," Maze replied. "Why?"

"Though I'm not picking up any ships, there is a small cluster of asteroids located in orbit right over where you said Timira City is located."

"You said no ships?" Maze said sharply.

"Yes? Why?"

"Despite the recession, the Kamino Defense Force has always kept a single cruiser and fighter-escort in orbit. It may sound impressive, but it was the only ships they were allowed to keep after their rogue cloners tried to rebel against the Empire."

"Could the scavengers have destroyed them?" Dinua asked from the passenger seat.

"It's possible," Maze answered, but he sounded dubious. "Keep our heading but adjust for those asteroids. I don't know how they got caught in Kamino's gravity, but then again I haven't been here for a very long time."

"Do you know about this city?" Tracyn asked.

"A little," Maze answered. "Timira is where their prototype batches were tested out. The Nulls would know more about it than me. They were partially brought up there until their genome proved stable enough. They were then sent over to Tipoca City to join the main training programs. But the Kaminoans were meticulous to say the least. Every single record of each failed batch was catalogued and dissected for the next batch. According to Niner, when the cloners rebelled over on Tipoca, nearly all the data was wiped either by the cloners or the Empire. But that was data for the viable batches. The Empire didn't care about the screw-ups and disposables so those databanks should still be intact."

"If the scavs haven't gotten to them," Nate said, dipping the Gray Side past the asteroids in preparation for entry into the lower atmosphere.

"There's that," Maze allowed. "It's more likely the sea-water destroyed the computers though. I was doing some digging on the state of things while we were en route. Apparently when the Rebellion blew-open Vader's secret project, they crashed a Star Destroyer into the sea and partially destroyed the complex. No telling what's left of the city."

The ship began to shudder and shake as it passed through a towering storm-cloud. Chilling rain began to splash against the windows, and lightning occasionally forked all around them.

"That's a lot of water," a wide-eyed Rali Xici whispered from where she was ensconced in Doran's lap.

"I've seen an ocean planet and a rainy planet, but never a rainy, ocean planet," Doran agreed.

"Lovely place," Dinua said sarcastically.

"Think this is something? Wait until typhoon season," Maze chuckled. "Then try jumpjet-training in a hundred-and thirty kilometer per hour winds. Lost more than a few people during those lessons."

"Mandalorian training methods can be harsh, but we generally try not to get our recruits killed," Dinua said in surprise. "It defeats the entire purpose."

"This is Mandalorian methods mixed with Kaminoan sadism," Maze smiled darkly. "To the Kaminoans we were not people, simply assets that could either do what they promised or broke trying. If we died, so what? They'd just make another one of us. To the Mandalorians, most of them anyways, we were a job. A new shiny toy that could be shaped into whatever they desired. Why do you think so many of us took up Mandalorian culture? If the trainers had been Echani we'd probably all have pranced about the battlefield in as little armor as possible. Trandoshan? We'd have worshipped that Goddess of theirs and committed suicide if we were ever captured. Does make me wonder what we would have turned out to be if Jedi were the ones to train us."

"Coming up on Timira City right now."

"Any contact with the capitol?" Maze was suddenly all business as he turned his attention to the controls.

"No, Tipoca hasn't even so much as scanned us," Nate shook his head. "I've tried hailing them to get permission to land at Timira, but nothing."

"Could be the storm interfering with communications," Maze said, though it didn't sound like he believed it. "Kids, keep your eyes peeled. It could be nothing, but this is strange, even for the Kaminoans."

"Errr…guys," Doran pointed out the approaching city. "Do the Kaminoans normally have that many ships parked in one place?"

"Maybe they're having a party outside," Rali said brightly.

All attention followed Doran's finger. Filling nearly every last landing pad at the city, were a motley collection of unique vessels that just screamed 'mercenary'. The rain continued to splash down on the viewport, but the unlikely team of Altisians and Mandalorians-in-training saw that a large crowd was gathering around an intact, outdoor section of the city.

The rest of the city didn't exactly look structurally sound. Whatever the Rebel Alliance had done, it had definitely left its mark. Most of the enclosed city appeared to be listing at a sixty-degree angle, with more than a few corridors and structures completely exposed to the elements. What wasn't dangling precariously above the stormy waters was already submerged. Only a small section of the city, most likely the side opposite of where the Star Destroyer-induced tidal wave had struck, looked to be stable. Even then, there didn't appear to be any lights on inside, any power, nor was there any movement.

"Well that's not good," Maze said, reading the faces of the teenagers with him. "That building over there, past the collapsed section of the city, that's the primary data-storage center. It looks like it's still in one piece, even if the path there isn't. No landing pad though, so we'll have to go the long way."

"Getting a short-range transmission," Nate noted. "Probably someone from that crowd down there."

"Let's hear what they have to say," Maze shrugged, thumbing the switch.

Over the relay, a small holographic figure of a man in ill-fitting armor appeared. The most notable thing about him was that he was human but very, very ugly in appearance. "You're late!"

"We are?" Maze asked in turn, the others in the ship shrugging in confusion.

"The Host was getting annoyed. Land the ship and join the rest of us."

"You'll have to excuse us," Maze said smoothly. "We were only contacted last minute and sent here."

"You mean you're not here for the competition."

"We are," Maze replied, matching the man's irritable demeanor. "But as I said, our own client just hired us after the team he had in mind pulled out. Something about not wanting to sign up for a suicide mission."

"It might seem that way, but the reward is worth it. When you get out here, the Host will explain everything." The man's holo flickered off.

"How'd you know it was a suicide mission?" The teens in the shuttle looked to the veteran in surprise.

Maze stabbed a finger at the gathering below. "No one hires that many mercenaries to go through a building that is supposed to be abandoned. Also, no one in their right mind would actually pay that many mercenaries either. Either it's something that only a few survivors will be paid for, or the host plans to double-cross everyone. Either way, most everyone down there will probably be dead this time tomorrow."

"We should get suited up, then," Nate said. "Look the part."

"I have my armor," Tracyn pointed to one of the crates that she had brought with her.

"Hope you two don't mind wearing non-Mando armor. More than one Mando kind of stands out," Nate said to Doran and Dinua.

They both shook their heads in the negative, and Doran spoke up. "I don't mind, but what about Raxi?"

"You can't seriously consider taking her with us," Nate said.

"You really want to leave her behind?" Doran countered.

"No one makes battle-armor for six year old kids," Nate said in exasperation. "Or Ewoks, or Ugnaughts, or Jawas, or anything the size of a six year old kid."

"I'm coming," the small Zeltron insisted, looking terrified at being separated from Doran.

"Just great," Nate sighed. He gestured them towards the back of the ship and pounded his hand on several hatches when he followed them back. In addition to the absurdly exotic weapon racks, another panel retracted to reveal sets of armor.

Doran began to reach for a dark blue set that looked vaguely like a hybridized Mandalorian-Stormtrooper outfit, but Nate reached over and stopped him. "Sorry about that, Doran. This one's mine. Has some of the only pieces of my grandpa's armor that were recovered, folded into it."

"Stormtrooper armor?" Doran asked, grabbing the set next to it, a black one with green trim.

"Katarn-armor," Nate corrected. "Custom paint jobs and Altisian tinkering of course. They're based off the old Phase-II ARC outfits, which of course had Mando influence."

"You carry the female version of the armor set with you everywhere?" Dinua asked, unhooking the breastplate of a white-colored armor with blue trim and noticing it was made for women.

"Never know when you'll have kick-ass women at your side gunning down the scum of the galaxy," Nate smiled. "Helps that these armors are modular, so one-size fits all. Well, all adults anyways"

The Gray Side landed in an empty space on one of the further landing pads, a wave sloshing over the side as they did. Nate saw it through one of the side windows and called back up to the front. "Uncle Maze, make sure you've set the magnetic docking clamps. Last thing I want is for this ship to be washed away."

"At least we're finally getting it clean," Maze chuckled heartily, joining them after a few minutes of cycling the systems. He opened another hatch and began to strap on a much older version of the outfits the others had on.

"Is that…your original armor?" Tracyn asked softly, attaching her gauntlets to her wrists.

Maze nodded as he pulled on a backpack full of only he knew what. "Needed a while to get used to going without it. Still fits me like a glove though, so I know I haven't gotten completely soft."

"Nothing wrong with going soft," Doran said. He glanced up to the weapon rack when he saw Maze pick out a plasma pistol and his eyebrows shot up at the weapon next to the one Maze had chosen. "Is that a T-6 Heavy Blaster?"

"Altisian touched, naturally," Nate plucked the gun off the rack and tossed it over to Doran. "Keep it. It's yours if you want."

"What's this switch on the side of the barrel do?" Doran recognized the non-standard modification to it.

"Energy-sink," Nate explained, choosing a blaster-rifle for himself. "The gun uses a magnetic field that allows it to build up a charge. Kind of like a Bryar pistol. You get to choose between five to ten shots depending on how long you charge the shot up. Bryars can't blast through a meter of armored plating though. That can."

"Neat," Doran breathed out, developing a new appreciation for Altisian technological prowess. "Thanks."

"Not a problem," Nate patted the younger teen on the shoulder, then pointed back to the armor rack. "Since it doesn't look like the place has any power, I'd take the helmet. It has thermal and infrared vision modes."

"I want one too," Raxi voiced, looking at the teens in the room.

"Here," Tracyn plucked a spare Katarn-armor helmet from the shelf and set it on Raxi's head. It was overly large and she looked completely adorable as she looked left and right with it on. "Nate, can you hand me those spare pauldrons?"

Raising an eyebrow, Nate did as asked. Tracyn activated her armor's wrist-blade and made some modifications to the straps. She then gestured for Raxi to come towards her. The little girl obediently did as told and pointed at the pieces of armor in the older girl's hand. "What are those?"

"These are going to be your arm protectors," Tracyn said with a friendly smile. The pauldrons were big enough that they went down the entire arm-length of the six year old. The Death Watch heiress fastened them on, and then looked back up to the armor rack once more. "Doran, Jeban said you were a good cobbler."

"On it," Doran chuckled, snagging a pair of armored boots and beginning to strip it of its armor plating. He had already decided to use Raxi's existing shoes and attached the light-weight ablative plating to them.

"I'll work on the chest-piece," Dinua volunteered. "It's just a matter of stripping off a few of the armor plates and adjusting the cloth inside."

"Okay, be real." Nate said protested. "Do you really think that it's safe for a little girl to be out in the middle of all those gun-toting mercs out there? That's just insane. Uncle Maze said that this was suicide mission. She can stay on the ship, nice and dry, and out of the way that anything that wants to kill her."

"She'd be safer with us, where we can keep an eye on her," Doran objected. "She's Force-sensitive, remember. The second she starts feeling things go wrong with us, do you really think she'll stay on this ship?"

"She's a little girl with no combat training whatsoever," Nate argued. "It'll be a danger to you, me, and everyone else if we have to pause to save her because she made a bone-headed decision. Face it, Doran. As guilty as you are about getting her sister killed, if you take her with us, you're more than likely to get her killed too."

"That was low," Dinua said darkly, standing up. "The Di'kut may have more heart than good for him, but his intentions are in the right place. He's confident he has the abilities to keep her safe. I'm confident in my abilities to help him do that. You can either help out or shut up and not become a part of the problem."

"Don't worry," Tracyn ignored the argument of the trio and remained squatting in front of Raxi. "We'll get you armored up just like us. I'll work on your pants next."

Raxi beamed happily from inside her helmet, then realized that Tracyn couldn't see her, so she gave the woman a thumbs-up.

Meanwhile Dinua's support for him had made Doran's eyebrows skyrocket, and he was grateful his helmet was hiding his no doubt stupefied expression. He didn't want to make an enemy of their new acquaintance, though, which was something Mandalorians seemed to have a knack for doing. He tried a different track. "Come on, Nate. Between you, me, Maze, Tracyn, and Dinua, we've more than enough brains, blasters, and sharp, pointy weapons to keep her safe. We're only here to get some information, not walk into a war."

"And here I thought Jedi weren't supposed to form attachments," Nate said dryly.

"Aren't you Altisians supposed to be all 'Family, yay, I'll protect you even if I have to do something crazy and un-Jedi-like?'" Doran replied in the same tone.

Nate, sensing what the two Mandalorian girls had decided and realizing he was out-voted, sighed. "Fine. I'll help. Can you have Raxi give me the helmet? I can make a few adjustments to it so it doesn't fall off the first time she looks down at her feet."

"Great, thanks," Doran smiled.

Ten-minutes later and Raxi was wearing the first Katarn-commando armor set made for Ewok-sized beings.

"Comfy?" Doran grinned.

"Uh huh," Raxi's helmeted head bobbed and she reached out to take one of Doran's hands.

"Cutest armored Ewok ever," Tracyn beamed, putting on her own black-painted Mandalorian helmet and then reaching down to take Raxi's other hand. "Stay with us okay? We'll keep you safe."

"We'll definitely try," a helmeted Maze said, hitting the ramp controls.

The group stepped off the ship and into the torrential rain pouring down all around them. Their helmets and armor kept the wetness and chill out, but the weather was still far from what anyone but an amphibious creature might consider pleasant.

The ugly man in ill-fitting armor greeted them. "Come on over. You're lucky. The Host just ordered all space in the Kamino system closed. You're the last ones in."

"Skip the pleasantries," Maze said professionally.

"This way," the man directed them through the crowd.

The sheer number of mercenaries gathered made Doran more than consider Maze's assessment of the situation. Unless one was trying to build an army, no one needed several thousand mercenaries. Maze and his own large form, with Raxi riding on his shoulders to stay clear of the crowd, led the way for their group as they shouldered their way to the front. When Doran saw that the 'Host' was a Yuuzhan Vong, however, his blood ran cold. That was something he definitely did not need.

The Yuuzhan Vong appeared to be an older female, with a much younger one standing at her side. Neither appeared dressed for the combat, much less the weather, but the water somehow just rolled off whatever organic garments they were wearing. When the man in ill-fitting armor approached them and bowed low, they both acknowledged him with a nod.

"The last are here, your Eminence."

"You did well. It is clear that the gods have not inflicted the same shame upon you that had stained your brother," the older of the two Yuuzhan Vong said evenly.

The two Yuuzhan Vong walked up to a central platform in the middle of the thousands of mercenaries.

"All of you are here because you have answered our summons," the elder Yuuzhan Vong said, her voice carrying over the howling wind and constant rumbling thunder. A flash of lightning illuminated her grizzled features, and Doran was infinitely glad for the helmet shielding his face from view. "I am Master Shaper Mezhan Kwaad, of Doman Kwaad and this is my student, Shaper Initiate Nen Yim. To educate you, Doman Kwaad and Yim are what you Infidels would consider scientists. It is why we are here, for knowledge. By going through your histories, I have learned that this facility once excelled in genetic experiments and mass cloning. It is that data that I seek. Now, for why you are here. The unobservant among you may not have noticed that there are over a hundred different races present, the ones most dominant in this galaxy. I wish to see how your races function in combat and how you react to stressful situations. The first three winning teams, that is the teams that return to me with data I seek, will be rewarded the ten million credits as promised. All others who survive and return with data will receive a token ten thousand credits for their participation. In addition, I have heard that Jeedai were also cloned here. The team who returns to me with that data will receive an additional two million credit bonus."

"That's a load of Bantha dung!" One merc called out. "No way you have enough credits to pay for all of us!"

"Several of your New Republic's senators have already set aside funds for this research project," Mezhan said patiently. "The money is available. Do not doubt me on that. Whether you will be among those that earn it, though, is a different story."

"Then let's get started!" a Houk bellowed, thrusting his vibrosword in the air and shaking it to the approval of his team.

"In good time." Mezhan, to Doran, looked almost pleased at the outburst. "I have released many different predatory species, modified by my Domain, into this facility as well. As I said, this is an experiment in itself. If you do not perform to the best of your abilities, you will meet your end here. Lastly, I will have surveillance units overseeing the event. Remember that your goal is the data. Intentionally killing a member of another team will result in a half-million deduction from your reward should you be among the winners. Should you kill a member of another team and not win, then I would advise you to flee because you will be dealt with most harshly. Now, you may begin."

The mass of mercenaries immediately took off running throughout the darkened, water-deluged city, a din of many languages of exciting rising up from all around them. As Doran and the others began to move with the latter portion of the crowd, Doran caught a conversation between the two Yuuzhan Vong.

"You are certain these…things can retrieve information on Jeedai?" the one called Nen Yim asked.

"Even if they do not, we will have received plenty of data for the Supreme Overlord and earn his favor," Mezhan said mildly. "Enough to earn a place on the team that will be sent to the Jeedai training center on Yavin Four."

"Yavin Four was given to Domain Phaath. Surely Master Shaper Yal Phaath will object…"

"Initiate, remember your place," Mezhan chided with a hint of warning. "Once the Supreme Overlord learns that I have uncovered more data for the Yuuzhan Vong than all of Domain Phaath in their years of study of this galaxy, he will be persuaded to send me so that I may…supervise Master Shaper Phaath's actions."

"I meant no disrespect, Master Shaper Kwaad, but Master Shaper Phaath is not as…open-minded about certain avenues of research. Especially those not from the corteci held by the Supreme One."

"Do not worry about that, Initiate. Whether we find information on the Jeedai today, or on Yavin when we claim it for the Yuuzhan Vong, we will unlock their secrets. All for the good of our people, of course."

Nen Yim tilted her head. "As you say, Master Shaper."

Doran saw Mezhan turn in his direction and he involuntarily shuddered as he hurried to catch up with the others. Glancing at the mass of people rushing to earn their 'prize', Doran could definitely say he had a bad feeling about what was going to happen next.

FtF III FtF

Much of Timira City, like the capitol Tipoca City, was enclosed. The network of mushroom-like gray buildings that stood on stilts above the turbulent waters were connected via cylindrical, often transparent corridors. Every building was a maze in its own right, with the corridors winding around turbolift shafts or passing through vast rooms. Normally the passageways would be lit up in a pleasant white light and everything would shine with in an inviting, sterile sense.

That wasn't the case.

The entire city had no power at all, leaving the hallways and rooms near pitch-black. The storm outside bled into the ruined city causing hair-raising howling and clanging to echo throughout. Scorch marks on walls, shattered windows, occasion flashes of lightning illuminating stretched of the city, Timira was about as inviting as a graveyard on a new moon. All that was missing was some creature screeching into the night and the whole haunted-house scene would have been perfect.

"Creepy place," Nate said, looking around. "Almost reminds me of that factory the Bakuran Prime Minister let the trade delegation tour."

"It was dark and abandoned?" Tracyn asked lightly.

"More or less," Nate chuckled. "I definitely like the company much better this time around though."

"Keep trying," Tracyn laughed in turn. "I definitely like my guys persist…"

"Careful!" Nate quickly grabbed Tracyn and pulled her back.

The group halted with weapons raised, Raxi hiding behind Doran in the center of the formation.

Tracyn slowly shone her weapon's light into the path before her and noted that the walls were covered with some sort of paper-like substance in a web-like design. What had stopped Nate, however, were the several bodies a little further into the hallway, all seeming to have self-inflicted blaster wounds to the head. "What in the world?"

Maze crept forward and poked his gun into the paper. "Might be nesting material of some sort."

Doran frowned. He didn't sense anything wrong, but at the same time he wasn't going to take any chances. "Is there any way around?"

"We could take the service ladders," Maze gestured to the hatch in the roof. "But we'll have to make a detour through several other buildings. This is the most direct path."

"Doran we don't have…"

Doran's heightened awareness allowed him to hear a buzzing. "Everyone shut up!"

They fell quiet, surprised at his outburst. The lights from their guns scanned the hallway, but didn't see anything. Doran left Rali to Dinua and Tracyn and moved to the front. His helmet's night-vision helped in the pitch-blackness of the hallway, but he also saw nothing of note.

"Doran?" Tracyn said carefully.

Doran took a step forward, his booted feet crinkling the paper-like material that was stretched out across the floor. Almost immediately the buzzing sound skyrocketed.

"Doran, get out of there!" Nate yelled.

From out of the air ducts and from every nook and cranny possible, fist-sized wasps of some-sort swarmed directly at him. It was as if the paper-material had been some sort of alarm system. Doran reflexively held up his hands and sent a pulse of Force-energy rippling through the swarm. The effect was as if he had used a three-hundred and sixty-degree fly-swatter. The bugs in all directions were thrown backwards in a stunning blast. Doran used that time to hastily step back out of the corridor. If it hadn't been for the Force alerting him to the imminent threat, and then saving him…Doran didn't want to know if the wicked black stingers on the wasps could penetrate his armor. Was glad he didn't have to find out.

Once he stepped off the paper 'alarm system,' and the wasps recovered, they swarmed for a moment, but didn't follow him. They then flitted back to the various places they had come from, and all was silent once more.

"Any idea what those were?" Doran asked, his heart still pounding.

"Yeah," Maze spoke up, not sounding pleased. "Fever Wasps of some sort. My brothers stationed on Haruun Kal told me about them during a rotation in their assignment. Nasty things. They lay larvae into your blood-stream and they hatch and eat your brain."

"I read about them," Nate said, shining his light through the paper-filled hallway. "But I thought those were tiny wasps? These things looked fruit-sized."

"They're supposed to be tiny wasps," Maze grunted.

"I guess the Yuuzhan Vong are the Altisians of living things then," Doran breathed out. "And I really doubt that bugs are all they have in this building."

"I guess we have to find another way around then," Tracyn said, gesturing to the hatch Maze pointed out earlier. "No telling how big that nest is, and I'm in no mood to fight with giant bugs."

"Agreed," Dinua nodded. "The Di'kut's abilities may have saved him from a painful death this time around, but we are not so naturally repellent that bugs fly away from us."

Doran blinked, trying to figure out if Dinua was insulting him or giving him a back-handed compliment. Preferring to think positive, he smiled inside his helmet. "What she said. I mean, I think it's possible to create a bubble of Force energy to keep the bugs away. But doing something like that will definitely catch someone's attention. The Vong did say they were watching somehow."

"The long-way it is," Maze used his rifle to poke open the hatch.

They piled up on top of the cylindrical passageway, the footing less stable than Doran would have thought.

"Who exactly services these things?" Doran asked, the topside narrow enough for them to just travel one at a time.

"Droids," Maze laughed. "You really don't think the Aiwha bait would clean these things themselves? Some of the passages back on Tipoca were actually used to train us in the fine art of fighting while balancing over certain death."

Doran glanced down over the side. Between the lower walkways and defunct cloning chambers, it was definitely a long way down.

"Here," Doran heard Dinua's voice and looked over his shoulder. His jaw nearly dropped when it became Dinua's turn for Rali to ride on her shoulders. "See any dangers, call it out."

"Yes, sir!" Rali playfully saluted in her modified Katarn-armor and then glommed on to Dinua's head. "All clear ahead!"

Doran's bemused expression morphed into a gentle smile, grateful that Rali's presence in the Force was bold and unafraid. He sent her a small bundle of reinforcement and felt her attempt to do the same with her limited abilities. He was more determined than ever now to keep his promise to her big sister. Nothing was going to happen to Rali Xici on his watch.

The passage along the top of the walkway encountered no problems. That is until Rali pointed to a point high above them.

"Look!"

They did, then paled. Apparently another merc-team had encountered something that needed a bandoleer of grenades thrown at it. Raxi had spotted the flash of blaster-fire seconds before said bandoleer had been thrown. The rest of the group looked up in time to see the bandoleer detonate. They learned firsthand that the Kaminoans didn't design their interior walkways to endure the explosive force of five thermal detonators going off at once.

Who would have thought?

The walkway above them was momentarily shrouded in a giant plume of fire, the resulting shockwave rippling through the narrow structure and ripping it to shreds. The shockwave continued outwards, two adjacent walkways shattering from the pressure. The primary walkway blew outwards, nailing the other two with spinning pieces of debris. And soon Doran's group had three walkways' worth of debris raining down on their own.

"Down!" Maze barked, flattening himself onto the tube they were on. The others began to follow suit.

"Nate!" Doran called out over the roar of the explosion and cascading debris. He was still standing.

"Give me a sec," Nate said quickly, likewise standing.

"Don't have one!" Doran yelled back, surprised to feel that Nate was once again devoid of any Force ability.

"You two are crazy!" Tracyn yelled. "Get down!"

Suddenly, the Force came rushing back through Nate as if a spigot had been turned on.

"'Kay, good to go!" Nate held up both hands.

Doran did the same, and both began to redirect the flaming debris from around their immediate area. One of the larger pieces of walkway smashed into their own. Right where the Fever Wasp swarm was. The angry insects buzzed out of the new hole in search of a new home. The debris ping-ponged off whatever was in their way, making the job for Doran and Nate all the more complicated. Fortunately, the whole cascade of burning metal lasted only seconds. Once the immediate danger was passed, both teens fell to their hands and knees, gasping for air. It was one thing to levitate a giant object. It was an entirely different thing altogether to redirect a giant object already falling at terminal velocity.

When the last of the crashing echoes died away, Doran's group slowly rose to their feet to take stock of their situation. There was devastation everywhere, their walkway taking a giant beating and hanging in some places by a single metal beam. But the place they were standing was as pristine as when the Kaminoans had first abandoned it.

"So much for limiting your Force usage," Maze laughed maddeningly, gazing at the destruction.

"It has its uses," Doran said sheepishly, accepting Rali's 'help' to get him back to his feet.

"I'll be able to do that?" Rali asked in wonder.

Doran took off his helmet and knelt down next to the girl. "How well one uses the Force doesn't make one a good Jedi."

"It doesn't?" Rali said in confusion.

"Uh uh," Doran shook his head. He gently rested his hand over her heart. "A Jedi doesn't need the Force to be a Jedi. He or she just needs a good heart and the ability to see things from other people's view points. The Force is just an added bonus to make our job of doing the impossible a bit easier."

"Oh," Rali's head bobbed.

"Didn't understand a thing I said?" Doran said with a fond smile.

"Uh uh," Rali said brightly. She tilted her head. "I'll still be a good Jedi though, right?"

"The very best," Doran grinned. He hoisted her up onto his shoulders. "Even if you didn't understand the Jedi speak earlier. Just remember that it doesn't matter how strong you are in the Force. If you believe you're a Jedi, then you're a Jedi and don't let anyone else tell you differently."

"Okay," Rali chirped.

Doran turned back to see the rest of the group looking at him. With their helmets on he couldn't read their expressions, but he began to feel his cheeks warm. "Errr…let's keep going, right? Long way to go and everything."

"The Jedi has the right idea," Maze said with a small amount of warmth in his voice that caused Doran to blush further. "We've already gotten off course. Don't want another group reaching the data before us. Or worse, destroy it with their idiotic idea that thermal detonators solve all their problems."

FtF IV FtF

The city was fast proving to be a death trap for the mercs inside. If it wasn't the abandoned floor-paneling giving away from age, wild creatures of various types would swoop out of nowhere to drag hapless victims back into the shadowy corners of the once pristine cloning lab. For those with no clear idea where they were going, wandering around in the environs was a recipe for disaster.

Fortunately for Doran and his Mandalorian friends, they had a guide. Also fortunate was that the Kaminoans liked their uniform cities. A building that served as storage over on Tipoca City, the city Maze grew up in, had a corresponding building over on Timira City, the city they were now on. A western wing of one building that held classrooms on Tipoca, served a similar purpose on Timira.

Unfortunately for them, the Rebel Alliance had decided to crash a Star Destroyer into the ocean and the impact had rearranged many of the viable passageways and flooded others. Most of the wild animals seemed to be located on the upper levels, the places with intact walkways and reasonably dry rooms. Given how Maze and the others weren't exactly packing a whole lot of ammunition in the first place, they had opted to risk the less shootable challenge of unstable terrain.

Even then, just because a majority of the animals were further away from the water, it didn't mean all of them were. But wild creatures were really the last thing Doran was thinking about after a few hours of navigating the city. His primary concern had to do with Nate Jango'ad and his dashingly heroic ways. In those few hours, Nate had done everything from save an entire group of unrelated mercenaries from a painful death-by-Gundark-nest, to performing CPR on Tracyn when the tail of a Shenbit-bonecrusher slammed into her with such force that it stopped her heart. Of course Nate could just have easily used the Force to heal her, but had opted for the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation instead. While the rest of the group had been trying to put down a Yuuzhan Vong-modified Shenbit—with increased armor capabilities and a clubbed-tail—Nate went and saved Tracyn's life. It wasn't that Doran wanted Tracyn to die…but there didn't seem like anything Nate couldn't do, and his perfectness was increasingly getting on Doran's nerves.

"If this water gets any higher, we're going to be in trouble," Nate said dryly, wading through the chest-high flooded room. Its Tipoca City equivalent would have been used for storage, and its Timira City usage definitely had many cargo crates floating about. "Water's a bit too cold for a relaxing swim."

"Good thing the power in the city is out," Doran added with a nod. "Last thing we need is mass zapping-ness."

"Zapping-ness?" Nate repeated, as if unable to believe Doran.

"Electrocution if you want to be technical, ," Doran rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Not everyone can be as awesome as you."

"You seem to be making a deliberate attempt at being un-awesome," Nate replied.

"Boys," Tracyn sighed.

"He started it," Doran pointed to Nate, inwardly grimacing as he realized how childish it sounded.

"Eyes up!" Maze barked.

The bickering stopped as they halted where they were, their blasters scanning the area.

"Uncle?" Nate voiced cautiously.

"Saw a dianoga eye," Maze said grimly.

"You've got to be kidding me," Nate grumbled, shaking his head. "Did it look like a regular dianoga, or did the Vong do something to that too?"

"I saw it, it saw us, that's really all we need to worry about right now," Maze answered. He scanned the walls. "There should be a service hatch to the walkways above somewhere nearby. We should get out of this water as fast as we can."

"Over there!" Rali called out, pointing a hand. She was seated atop Dinua's shoulders after having napped against Maze earlier in the trip.

Blasters whipped around, and the group saw several eyestocks quickly drop back under water.

"Counted five," Dinua reported.

"Any movement we make will attract their attention, might provoke them into attacking," Doran said worriedly.

"Standing in one place, they'll definitely attack," Maze replied, not liking the situation any more than the others.

"I have an idea," Nate said after a moment.

"Big surprise," Doran muttered under his breath so the others couldn't hear him.

"These Katarn-armor sets, the Altisians gave the boots a magnetic-locking capability, as well as retractable cleats for climbing," Nate lifted a leg slowly to demonstrate. "The upper passage walls might not be magnetic, but these lower level ones looked to be made from reinforced durasteel. We'll use the magnetic locks to walk our way to the ceiling and find the hatch Uncle Maze mentioned."

"Great idea," Dinua complimented.

"What about Tracyn?" Doran voiced. "She's wearing her Mandalorian armor, not your set. Rali also doesn't have magnetic boots."

"The kid can come with me," Maze voiced, pulling out a grappling line and casting it to Dinua. "Tie this around her waist and I can strap her to my front. It's probably not the most comfortable, but it'll only be until we're out of this level."

"Tracyn," Nate mimicked his uncle.

"Such a gentleman," Tracyn laughed, but tied the rope around her own waist. She then rotated so that she floated on the low water over to Nate, guided by the metal rope tied around her. Once over, she righted herself and climbed onto his back, wrapping her arms and legs around him. Her small figure meant that he was able to bear her weight after only a few seconds of adjustment. "Stronger than I thought."

"We Altisians are full of surprises," Nate said glibly.

Doran felt his teeth grind and struggled not to react. "Great, problem solved."

"On a count of three, run towards the wall, leap, and then activate your magnetic boots," Maze directed.

"Three, two, one!" The group dashed towards the walls, the water around them coming to life.

"Something just brushed past my leg!" Dinua yelped.

"Keep moving," Doran called out. The group reached the wall and quickly activated their boots as multiple tentacles broke the water's surface. Doran, being one of the first to the wall thanks to his long stride, unholstered his blaster and fired at the searching limbs. The dianogas definitely did not appreciate his contributions and squealed, the tentacles quickly retracting and the water going dangerously calm once more.

"Well," panted Nate on the wall opposite of Doran. Tracyn was gripping onto him and doing her best not to get the both of them killed. "That was another thing I can say I've done. Escape from dianogas with a hot girl on my back."

"How far until the service hatch?" Doran called out to Maze, who was cradling Rali against his chest.

"Shouldn't be too far," Maze pointed at the nearby door. "A few dozen meters down that corridor."

"I'll take point," Doran exhaled, not wanting to look at Nate or listen to his antics any longer.

"I'll bring up the rear," Dinua volunteered.

"Another brush with death avoided," Doran sighed. "A gazillion more to go."

The trip to service hatch and up to the crisscrossing transparasteel walkways above was uneventful. As was the next hour of travel as they traversed the cylindrical walkway in near silence. The lights came from their torches, which they occasional shined through the transparent walkway to look down on the vast rooms they were passing through. Maze kept a running commentary with Rali now riding on his shoulders.

"On Tipoca, this place would have been a mess-hall," Maze gestured outside to a many-tabled room. "I think the Nulls mentioned Timira did things a little differently because they didn't deal with the volume of clones Tipoca did. See over there on that half of the room? Looks like the Kaminoans decided to use the rest of the space as a firing range."

"Get you guys used to the sound of blaster fire even on your off hours?" Doran asked.

"Precisely," Maze grinned broadly behind his helmet, some of his manic side coming through. "Blasterfire and all-purpose paste for breakfast, nutritious and delicious."

"What about this next room?" Nate asking as the tube-like walkway took them into an adjoining room.

"Hmm, let's see," Maze shined his light through the transparasteel. "Can't be certain, but looks like a training room of some sort. The Kaminoans came up with all sorts of ways to ensure we had the mettle we needed to have."

They rounded the corner, Doran's torchlight scanning the path before them. "Is it just me or is it slightly creepy we haven't encountered any other merc-groups outside of the one that almost became Gundark food?"

"I noticed that as well," Dinua said from the rear. "And not just that either. We are on the middle levels, but in the past few structures we have encountered no sign of wildlife."

Doran thought about that and definitely did not like the conclusion he had reached. "Well either the Yuuzhan Vong ran out of creatures to seed an entire city, or…"

Tracyn, on her own two feet asked. "Or what?"

"Or something ate everything that came this way," Nate answered for Doran in an almost whisper his gaze seemingly focused not on Doran, but at something past him.

"Seriously!?" Doran said in exasperation, whirling around on the older teen. "I was going to say tha…"

A gurgling roar filled the hallway.

Doran glanced over his shoulder, then promptly did a double-take. The entire path before him seemed to be blocked off by an undulating mass of spike-covered tentacles. The lights of the entire group focused on the creature just as a singular eye opened up.

"Oh kriff," Tracyn barely managed, taking a shaking step backwards and turning off her torch. "A Rathtar."

The tentacles slowly uncoiled, and the creature emitted a burp, a single, corroded metal boot flying out of its circular maw and clanging to the floor just in front of Doran. His brief look at the boot showed that it was still dissolving from whatever fluids it was covered in.

"A Yuuzhan Vong-modified Rathtar," Doran concluded. The boot finished dissolving, and the left over liquid began to eat away at the floor panel.

"Run," Maze exhaled slowly, taking a slow, step back.

The Rathtar roared once more and its large muscular form began to pound its way through the corridor.

"Run!" Maze bellowed, clutching Rali to him.

The group ran, their hurried footsteps echoing along with the banging noises of the Rathtar through the abandoned building. Dinua tried to buy them some time and fired her plasma pistol at it. Doran, bringing up the rear, immediately grabbed her arm to pull her along. "Don't do that, you'll get it angry."

"As opposed to what it is now?" Dinua asked.

"Right now it's hungry. We don't want it angry and hungry."

The Rathtar continued to close the distance, its spiky tentacles propelling at a speed faster than the humans could run.

"I take it you've fought one of these things before?"

"Are you kidding?" Doran said incredulously. "Do I look suicidal?"

"You're a Jedi," Dinua said by way of argument.

"No I haven't fought a Rathtar before," Doran yelled over the din coming from behind. "What about you? I thought hunting insanely dangerous creatures was the Mando idea of fun?"

"Only for the mentally impaired Mandalorians," Dinua said. Then she cried out as a tentacle slammed into her back and launched her forward.

Doran whirled around and fired his blaster pistol several times, the bolts barely doing anything to the mucus-covered tentacles. He charged up his pistol and fired, this time scoring a minor burn. Glaring at his useless weapon, he glanced over his shoulder and saw that Dinua had recovered and was pulling a collapsible vibrosword from her utility belt.

"I think the Vong made these things blaster-proof too," Doran shouted, the tentacles thrashing about and pounding on the sides of the corridor. He saw spidery cracks form in the transparent material and grimaced.

"I think you made it angry," Dinua noted, swinging her vibrosword and scoring a small cut in another tentacle.

The Rathtar howled.

"It's angry," Dinua concluded.

"Let's keep running." Doran's blaster was doing absolutely nothing to the mass of muscle and spikes before him.

A spiky tentacle lashed out and wrapped itself around Dinua's vibroblade. She immediately let it go and staggered backwards. "Good idea."

"Fire in the hole!" Nate yelled from the end of the hallway.

Doran saw a bandoleer of thermal detonators fly past he and Dinua and groaned. "He's going to get us killed!"

The two picked up their adrenaline-induced flight, skidding around a corner just as a powerful explosion violently jarred the entire walkway and sent Dinua and Doran sprawling to the ground. On the ground, Doran promptly flipped himself over and fired a charged shot at the ceiling. The blast blew a hole in the roof of the walkway just as the scorching wall of fire raced around the corner. Summoning as much concentration as he could, Doran held up both hands and created a thin barrier of Force energy. The roiling wall of fire slammed into it, and then finding a path of lesser resistance, promptly spewed out the hole Doran had made in a prolonged rush.

With the last of the fire gone, Doran slumped, groaning at his new near-death experience. He smiled weakly as the others came to assist. "I think we found out what happened to everyone who tried to come this way."

"No kidding," Tracyn rasped, shaking her head in disbelief. She helped Doran to his feet.

"Think it's dead?" Dinua asked, accepting Nate's assistance and likewise standing.

"Has to be," Nate said worriedly, looking in the Rathtar-infested path's general direction. "Those were all the detonators Uncle Maze brought with us."

And then a single tentacle made its way around the corner.

"No, frackin' way!" Nate gaped.

Another tentacle followed. Both spiked appendages looked a bit charred, lacking the mucus-like sheen from earlier, but still very much alive. More Rathtar tentacles. Maze and the others began backing up once more. The rest of the creature followed.

Doran saw several marking on the wall as the group backed into a different room, and an idea came to him. "Guys, keep on going."

"Doran," Dinua said tersely. "Jedi doesn't equal suicidal, right?"

"In this case, it might," Doran answered back. "Trust me on this."

The burnt Rathtar continued to drag its wounded form towards the humanoids, its anger and hunger overriding whatever pain it might be feeling.

Dinua fell back with the others, though not really the most happy about doing so.

The Rathtar roared once more, its eye centering on Doran's tall figure standing just inside the doorway of the next room. Doran released a slow breath in concentration, waiting until the last moment before firing his blaster into a cluster of cables on the ceiling. The built-up charge blew away the sensitive electronics and a flood-door slid shut with authority. The Rathtar, which had been half-way through the door, was sliced in two. Its gore splashed across the flood-door and coated Doran's figure in purple and orange goo. Doran smirked and turned around to walk back to his stunned friends.

Even then, Doran couldn't catch a break. The half that had made it through the other side thrashed about in its death throes, the few tentacles it still had in its possession lashing outwards. One wrapped around a startled Doran's ankle and lifted him into the air, slamming him bodily into a stretched out viewing window. The window broke from the impact but didn't shatter completely. The Rathtar slammed him into the wall a second time as blaster-fire poured in from the others. This time the window gave way—along with the tentacle holding him, severed by a plasma-shot—and Doran was hurled through the air and into the cavernous room outside.

Doran gritted his teeth as he impacted against a supporting column, then rolled down the side of the sloped walls. He was deposited into a pit-like region many stories below, his vision still swimming from the journey. He tasted blood, and knew from the searing pain in his side that he had a cracked rib or five. His legs still worked, so that was good. His sense of balance still on the whoozy side. He tried to steady himself with the smooth wall next to him, not able to see anything in the near-darkness of the room.

His helmet's night-vision was dead, and just running his hand over his helmet let him know that it had taken the brunt of his fall. With an annoyed groan, he managed to work his head free of the mangled plasteel and throw it aside.

"Doran!" He heard Dinua yell out from above. There was a moment's pause as a shaped-charge blew out a segment of the wall and allowed her to shine her light down on his position.

"Still alive!" Doran called back.

"Stay that way!" Tracyn shouted, jumping out the new hole. There was a small pause, and Doran heard the distinctive sound of a Mandalorian jetpack activating. Sure enough, the petite Death Watch leader had rocketed down to where he was. She landed, and Doran had the distinct feeling she was glaring at him through her Mandalorian helmet.

"Thanks for dropping in?" Doran tried, promptly earning himself a punch on the arm.

"That was from Jeban," Tracyn grumbled. She punched his other arm. "And that was for scaring the living daylight out of me!"

"Sorry…but the plan worked, right?" Doran grimaced. Even with his Katarn-armor, Tracyn had to have crushgaunts or something on her hands because her punches still hurt.

"Yeah," Tracyn admitted reluctantly. She reached into her utility belt and popped a flare. The bright red glow lit up the pit Doran had fallen into.

And he almost wish she hadn't.

Strewn about the floor was a large variety of corpses and bones. Some looking fairly old. Given the armor some were wearing, Doran had a very strong feeling that the group of mercs combing the facility wasn't the first. His attention was then drawn to the sets of eyes glittering just out of sight of the flare's range. Slowly, with rumbling huffs and snarls, several creatures began to rise.

The first to step into the light was a creature Doran recognized as a massive Sacorrian Grey Bear. Yuuzhan Vong coral grew out in spikes along its spine, and some sort of black fluid was dripping from gleaming white fangs. Easily twice his own impressive height, the bear regarded them as a starving person would regard a buffet. Two other bear-shaped shadows flanked it, but stayed out of the red cone of light.

Tracyn and Doran took a step back, but then heard a sound come from behind and spun around.

"Great, Ralltiir tigers too," Doran groaned, now standing back to back with Tracyn. The tigers had similar coral-like growth, but this time on their tails, and with horn-like protrusions on their head."Can this get any worse?"

A new roar sounded in the darkness.

"You had to ask," Tracyn shook her head, she now had a blaster in each hand and was tracking back and forth between the targets.

A third animal appeared.

"Rock-lions," Doran moaned in disbelief. "Rathtars, rock-lions, Grey Bears, and Ralltiir tigers! What'd the Vong do, raid a zoo?"

"If you have a plan to get out of this, I'm open to it."

"Let's see, a plan against a lot of very hungry animals?" Doran did his best to look around, but didn't see anything that could be of help. The walls of the pit were even taller than the Sacorrian Grey Bears, and it wasn't like Tracyn could carry him. "Yeah, take off and go help Dinua and the others get the info for Jintar."

"Hit your head harder than I thought," Tracyn said darkly. "Try again."

"Tracyn…"

"Jeban will shoot me if I go back up and said I'd let you get eaten by wild animals. I'd shoot me too," Tracyn cut him off. "So, new plan."

"Tracyn," Doran gritted out. "These aren't just regular wild animals. I can't feel them with my special senses. The Vong definitely did something to them, and I don't want my best Mandalorian buddy becoming their appetizer."

"Yeah, and I'm not going to let my favorite Hairless Baby Wookie become an entrée." Tracyn took aim with both blasters as the Sacorrian Grey Bear took a step closer. "Come up with something, fast. My blasters wouldn't make a dent in a Grey Bear's hide before all the changes the Vongese made to it, so I doubt I'll be able to do more than tick it off."

Doran regarded the wild animals around them, glancing at the coral sticking out of their bodies in lethal-fashion. "Try shooting the coral."

"What?"

"The coral," Doran pointed to the approaching bear. "Doesn't it look like antennae right where his neck is?"

"Okay," Tracyn shrugged, her blaster discharging several times. The coral growth was blown off, and the bear let out a murderous roar, rising onto its hind legs.

At the same time, a Ralltiir tiger let out a huff of breath. Which unfortunately for Doran, snuffed the flare.

Which left them in the dark, in a pit, surrounded by lions, and tigers, and bears…

Oh, my.

FtF V FtF

Just when it looked like he and Tracyn would be the dinner for a pack of very hungry animals, the darkness of the room was lit up once more. Repelling downward were Maze, Rali still clinging to him, Dinua, and Nate, with their blaster-weapons blazing. The lions and tigers didn't stand a chance, and after their alphas were decimated, the remaining animals beat a hasty retreat into the sewer-like passages they had come from.

The bears were a different story. Despite the barrage from above, even high-powered rounds couldn't penetrate the trio of giant ursines. In fact, all it did was enrage the trio. Doran saw Tracyn focus her fire on the face of one of the creatures, but her helmet prevented her from seeing a second of the two barrel towards them. Despite the burning pain of his fractured ribs, Doran shoved Tracyn aside and had only a second to build up a cushion of Force energy before taking the full force of the charge.

He was pretty sure the impact with the wall had broken whatever ribs he had left. He also didn't really feel like staying awake. But the bear was not done with him. With a swipe of its claw, it sent Doran rolling across the ground and tore off his chest plate. He couldn't help but scream in agony as his damaged rib-cage protested such violent treatment. The bear moved to flatten him, but a jet of liquid blue fire met it. It howled, staggering backwards as the liquid adhered to its face and continued to burn.

Tracyn continued to stand protectively in front of Doran, her flame-thrower dishing out the spout of liquid fire. The bear swung at her, but she rolled beneath it and fired off something from her wrist-launcher directly into its belly. She then rolled away towards Doran, promptly covering him as best she could with her much smaller figure. The bear in question immediately had its insides blown out as the exploding dart she had planted detonated.

Almost at the same time, Nate landed on the ground and performed a strafing dive. The second of the trio of bears received a diet of molten metal slugs when it opened its mouth to roar in challenge, and the barrage blew out the back of its head and neck and dropped the creature in its tracks. The last bear being wounded from one source after another, emitted one more defiant roar before it too retreated back into the darkness.

"Clear," Maze said, scanning the region. He light briefly washed over Doran's battered body. "Nate, get over here. The boy looks like he got the worst of everything."

"On it, uncle."

The 'boy' in question knew that he was in big trouble. He could scarcely breathe without hurting, his vision darkened to the point he wasn't sure if his eyes were open or close. So this is what dying feels like, Doran mused. Though he had many regrets, he was also at peace. As all Jedi, he would just rejoin the Force and…

"Ow!" Doran groaned in agony as something sharp pierced his chest and injected him with something.

"Adrenaline is not going to last him long," Tracyn said hurriedly. "We need to get him to a bacta tank."

"He better not give me mouth-to-mouth," Doran slurred.

"That's the least of your worries, or'dikut," Tracyn lectured harshly." What possessed you to do something so stupid as to…"

"Little Mando," Maze interrupted her rant, mainly to get her out of the way so Nate could get to Doran. "I need you to open up that compartment over there. Inside should be a set of clankers the Kaminoans use for security." Maze shined his torch at a wall adjacent to a high platform above them. "I don't care if it doesn't have power at the moment. Make sure it's in one piece and bring it down here. Quick."

Tracyn stared at Maze for a long moment, before activating her jetpack and flying up to the platform. Nate, meanwhile, knelt by Doran's barely-conscious form and removed his own helmet.

"You look like bantha poodoo," Nate remarked with a half smirk.

Doran emitted a raspy gargle in turn.

"What are you going to do?" Dinua asked, stepping forward and making an abortive attempt to grab Nate's shoulder.

"Keep him alive until we can fix his body," Nate replied. "Dinua, I need you to step way back, over to where my uncle is preferably."

As Nate spoke, Doran felt something very strange in the Force. The peaceful sensation of drifting towards oblivion had been halted. Not halted, he realized after a moment, redirected.

"Got the droid," Tracyn landed, a cable towing the droid to her location. "Heavy piece of junk."

Maze glanced back over to her, then surprised everyone by laughing. "Ho, ho! A B3 Ultra? I guess the rumors about the Empire taking over their production was true. Has to be the ultimate of ironies that they have Confederate droids guarding their cloning facilities."

"Great. Uncle," Nate said distractedly, keeping his hands over Doran. "Mind getting it ready? No sense having two dead bodies."

Maze took the droid and gestured for Tracyn to stand back where Raxi and Dinua were. He took out a power-pack from the pack he was carrying and replaced the energy-cell inside the droid. He smiled at the two Mandalorian teens looking on. "Stocked up on these before we left Sleheyron. Kaminoans knew their tech, never knew if something they left lying about would come in handy. All set, Nate."

Doran felt the pull intensify and he let out a ragged gasp of agony as every single nerve-ending in his body fired off at once. He coughed several times, blood coming out of his mouth as it did. It felt as if his mind was liquefying in his skull as wave after wave of agony consumed him. He already hated Nate's guts, and now he was even more furious. Why couldn't Mr. Perfect just let him die properly?!

In the background, both Dinua and Tracyn looked on, their helmets shielding their contrasting expressions from view. Where Tracyn wore her every emotion plain on her face, Dinua's own face was locked in an emotionless slate. Both teens were holding one of Rali's hands, trying to reassure both themselves almost as much as the little girl, of Doran's survival.

"He's killing him," Dinua said in a low voice as she watched Doran's body convulse in an almost impossible angle. She began to draw her blaster. "He's kill…"

"Give him time," Maze said in a commanding voice. "What he's doing isn't a piece of cake you know."

"And what is he doing?" Tracyn gritted out.

The pain stopped, much to Doran's surprise. Stopped completely. His entire body went deathly still, and he briefly wondered if he'd finally be able to pass on. If Nate had given up. He almost felt like bragging. Ha! So perfect, but can't beat death, can you? Then the weird feeling that he was traveling somewhere started up again. He felt light-headed, and he wanted to take a breath, but realized he couldn't. Despite his resignation at his morality, he suddenly really wanted to breathe again. But he couldn't move at all, couldn't make a sound of protest, couldn't even feel anything. The dark fog that surrounded him persisted.

And then he could see again. But when his sight returned, it wasn't at all what he expected. As a human, he was pretty sure that there was only a small spectrum of light that he could see. He definitely didn't remember seeing everything in thermal-version. And definitely didn't remember hearing the actual heart-beats of those nearby. At least that's what he figured the rhythmic pounding was.

"He's dead!" He heard Tracyn snarl accusingly in an almost disturbingly loud volume. Or the person who he assumed was Tracyn. Apart from Rali, the Death Watch leader was the smallest heat signature in the room. A much larger figure held her back from committing murder. "Nate didn't help him at all!"

"Listen, Mandalorian," Maze said sternly. "Doran's body was dying, there was nothing we could do for that."

"Then what did Nate do?" If Tracyn's voice was full of molten fury, Dinua's was glacially calm.

Doran blinked, and everything appeared to look normal again. Although he definitely didn't remember putting a new helmet with night-vision capabilities on.

"Doran," Nate's voice registered in Doran's ears. "Why don't you wave hi at them to let them know I'm as amazing as usual?"

Doran groaned reflexively and sat up. It was then he noticed that his body was still on the floor. A small amount of paranoid panic coursed through him. He lifted a hand to cup his face, and his hand made a 'clanging' noise on impact. "What…?"

Even his own voice sounded robotic. Then he remembered Nate telling Tracyn to fetch a droid body. If Doran still had eyes, they would have widened in surprise understanding. Slowly, he lifted his other hand and saw a thick, metal gauntlet instead. He glanced down at the rest of his body. He hadn't been conscious enough to know what type of droid Tracyn had acquired, but looking down at the rest of himself, Doran now had a really good idea what. He wasn't in just any droid. He was in a kick-ass droid.

"What…" Tracyn's enraged rant had trailed off as the formerly deactivated droid got unsteadily to its feet.

"You're welcome," Nate said to the droid, with a hint of a cocky smirk.

"Wow," Doran voiced again. He held out one of his arms and focused. Immediately a panel slid back and a rapid-fire blaster cannon rose up. He tilted his head as best he could, focusing some more. The cannon retracted, rotated to the side, and was replaced by a flamethrower. "Very cool."

"Doran?" Tracyn breathed out in disbelief.

"It's me, I think," Doran replied. He wanted to nod, but apparently his new body wasn't capable of such an act. When he tried, he evidently activated the hatch for his back-mounted missile launcher. "Better than a Gonk droid."

"What?" Dinua's surprise matched the shock Tracyn and Rali were feeling.

"Altisians," Doran said dryly. "That's what."

"Nate?" Tracyn whirled on to the Altisian Force-user.

He just waved them off. "Let me catch my breath. I think Doran can explain things though. He knows about Callista."

"Just know the basics," Doran grimaced at the cybernetic reverb his voice had. "Altisians have made tech and Force-usage to an art. One of the reasons why they can have all these cool guns, armor, and ships is because they can imbue a part of themselves into the tech as they make it overcoming natural limits."

"What does that have to do with…you?" Dinua asked. She had knelt down next to Doran's body and continued to look back and forth between his deathly still organic form and his equally still droid form.

"They can also transfer the essences of people into machines," Doran said softly.

"Transfer…so…you really are…you?"

"As much as I think I am," Doran wanted to smile sardonically but he no longer had a mouth to do so. "Technically, I am dead. My consciousness was just transferred into this body."

Dinua visibly twitched when Doran said he was dead, and she stood up to her full height. Which in his new form, didn't even make it halfway up his four-meter tall torso. She took off her helmet, brown eyes staring into his red photoreceptor. "We can fix this, right?"

"If we keep my body intact, both this form and my organic one, and get us back to the Kyrimorut, more than likely."

Dinua nodded curtly and replaced her helmet, moving to where Tracyn and Maze were now cutting the hide off one of the bears to make a pack for his organic form.

In the meantime, Rali had shaken free of a still-recovering Nate and ran straight up to stand in front of Doran. "You're inside there?"

"Yeah," Doran tried to nod and once again activated his missile launcher. "Okay, no nodding."

Raxi placed a small hand on one of his legs. "You're so cold."

"Metal does that," Doran said, keeping his tone light. He wanted to comfort the small girl but suddenly realized that his new body lacked something else besides the ability to nod and feel the warmth of her small hand.

He couldn't use the Force.

Ftf Chapter End Ftf

A\N: Next chapter, next week! Hope you all enjoyed this one.