Downtown Shootout, 0950 hours

"Out! Everybody out!"

Jay somersaulted to avoid another explosive cannon round. D'harhan was laying waste to their forces still stuck inside the building. And between the fight for their lives inside and the troopers outside gathering to see what the commotion was about, the exit door was little more than a kill zone.

D'harhan let out a booming synthetic roar, slamming his fists into a nearby Mandalorian's chest. The man went flying bodily through the air, slamming into the far wall hard enough to knock pictures to the floor. Without pausing, D'harhan pivoted and grabbed another Mando by the helmet, throwing him to the ground before crushing his chest under one massive, armored foot.

The huge alien's tail was wreaking just as much havok. Jay ducked as it darted for her, coiling back like a striking snake. The serrated grasping prongs clanked together once, twice, three times, as if irritated by her resistance. She fired her shotgun at it, which made the tail slither away through the air while D'harhan roared and spun to her. He took one step before Gunslinger tackled him from behind, wrapping his arms around the alien's considerably thick neck and holding on for dear life.

D'harhan let out a blast of synthetic buzzing and recoiled, knocking the man from his shoulders. He turned to finish him off, balling up a fist larger than Gunslinger's head. The man groggily rolled onto his back, too slow to escape what was coming. D'harhan slammed his fist down and there was the sound of flesh hammering metal. Gunslinger screamed, loud enough to drown out the sound. D'harhan pulled his fist back and punched down again, driving Gunslinger further into the ground. Jay could see that the abuse was actually driving Gunslinger's beskar-alloy armor plating into his chest, crushing the hard metal against his ribcage. Much more of the attack and D'harhan would kill him.

Jay fired her shotgun almost point-blank into D'harhan's back, but the blaster bolts had no effect. D'harhan's leathery green skin was naturally resistant to blaster fire, which allowed him to shrug off incoming shots like he was doing now. It would take more firepower than they currently had at their disposal to seriously injure him.

With a thunderous battle cry, Gundark suddenly leaped from the balcony above, bringing his huge beskar shield crashing down on the alien below him The blow knocked D'harhan off his feet, sending the massive alien smashing to the ground hard enough to shake the building to its foundations. A coolant tube on D'harhan's neck ruptured, spraying blue-white fluid into the air.

Gundark landed hard, slamming his shield against the ground and shouted, "Bring it on you aruetii osik'kov!"

D'harhan let out a creaking grumble as he began pushing himself to his feet once again. But Gundark wasn't about to give him time to recover; he slammed his shield forward, knocking D'harhan away. He followed up by thrusting the shield forward again, horizontally this time so the honed edge of the rectangular block of beskar hit D'harhan square in the gut. The alien doubled over, huge hands clutching his stomach.

"Go!" Gundark boomed. "I'll hold him off!"

"Gundark," Gunslinger gasped, staggering to his feet. "You can't-"

"Go!"

Jay slung an arm under Gunslinger's shoulder and helped him limp toward the door. "Come on. We have to get you out of here."

Gundark, meanwhile, was keeping D'harhan more than busy. Even though the Mandalorian was nowhere near D'harhan's size or strength, his armor and his sheer ferocity seemed to be keeping the murderous cyborg at bay. Jay hoped the soldier could keep unwanted attention away from her and the rest of the troopers long enough for them to evac.

"Go!" she shouted to the few stragglers still recovering from D'harhan's ambush. She shoved a trooper out the door. "Get out of here!"

She didn't feel relieved when she and Gunslinger staggered together into the fresh air outside. Enforcement officers were everywhere, calling in backup, setting up weapons emplacements, blocking off roads. In a matter of moments, the operation had switched from a shootout to an all-out warzone.

The scary thing, she thought to herself as she helped Gunslinger toward the outpost across the street, is that I'm not sure they have enough firepower to take D'harhan down.

She didn't know why her alien friend had suddenly gone berserk. All she knew now was that she needed to get her and her friends as far away from this nightmare as possible. Caranthyr was behind this somehow, she knew it. And whether D'harhan had defected or was somehow under the changeling's sway, she wasn't going to let any more innocents get caught in the crossfires.

"Here," she said as a med-tech sprinted toward them. She handed Gunslinger off with a pat on his shoulder pad. "I'll be right back. I promise."

"Aye," Gunslinger said hoarsely. "Be careful."

She nodded and sprinted toward Tobbi Dala, who was ordering nearby troopers to set up E-Web cannon emplacements along the front of the outpost across the street. His face was bruised and battered, his armor smoking from the backlash of one of D'harhan's cannon rounds. In all, he looked like he'd gone twelve rounds with a Wampa, but he looked furious enough to ignore his pain. She took a moment to reload her shotgun while he finished, then said, "What do we do? Our guys are getting murdered in there."

"My guys," Dala growled. "Not ours."

She stared at him in disbelief. "Is this really the time to go all racist on me? Just answer the damn question!"

Dala gestured to the cannon emplacements being set up along the street. The weapons were impressive, but there were just too few to make a difference. D'harhan could level half the emplacements with a single shot if he wanted to. Jay got the feeling he was going to do so before the hour was up.

"We're going to pin him down with overlapping fields of stun round fire. Our blasters aren't doing osik to penetrate his alien hide, but maybe electro-shock rounds will at least slow him down."

"And if it doesn't?"

Dala scowled. "We're not equipped to kill him. At the moment, our main priority is to slow him down while we get our wounded out of here. Then we evac to the enforcement office, regroup, and prepare for him to follow us."

"But how are we going to stop him?"

Dala shook his head. "I don't know."

Denton and Trainee Ruusan were suddenly standing at Jay's shoulder. Ruusan shook her head and said, "Did I hear you right? We're retreating?"

"Aye."

"But Mandos don't retreat."

Dala spat out a curse and gestured to the building behind them, from which the sounds of the battle between D'harhan and Gundark were still raging. "You wanna head in there and go toe-to-toe with that alien brute, be my guest. But there's a difference between standing your ground and needlessly committing suicide. All I'm concerned with now is the evacuation of my wounded men. You have a problem with that, take it up with D'harhan."

Ruusan blinked, surprised by the other Mandalorian's sudden ferocity. She then gulped visibly and said, "What are your orders, sir?"

"Regroup with the rest of the functioning officers," Dala growled. "We're going to form a firing line, shoot a volley at him when the time is right. Jay, Denton, secure a speeder. I want you to put as much space between yourselves and this battlefield as possible."

"Sir," Denton protested, "I can stay and-"

"I gave you an order, Officer Dral. I expect you to follow it."

"But-"

"The fact is that for whatever reason, D'harhan seems to be focused on taking out your girlfriend, Officer. So I'm banking on the fact that if you two beat feet out of here, he'll follow you. That'll give me time to get my men out of harm's way and find a way to take this son of a bitch out."

He took a step forward and pressed a finger against Denton's chest plate. "So I expect you to get in a damned speeder, take your damned girlfriend with you, and get that goddamned alien out of this area. Do I make myself clear?"

Denton sighed and saluted. "Yes sir."

"Good," Dala said. He then turned to the Mandalorians behind him and thrust his rifle over his head as he roared, "Oya, Mando'ade! It's a good day for someone else to die!"

The assembled Mandalorians let loose with a responding cry of "Ib'tuur jatne tuur ash'ad kyr'amur!"

"That's what I like to hear!" Dala snarled. He drew his helmet over his head and fell into place with the other soldiers, raising his rifle and preparing for the inevitable battle. "Get ready!"

Denton nudged Jay's shoulder, the jerked his head to the ambulance where med-techs were loading Gunslinger onto a stretcher. The pounding he'd received from D'harhan had shattered his ribcage, and he was being taken to the nearest medcenter for treatment. Jay felt bad that they would have to take the ambulance, but there were no other speeders around.

Before they could explain their orders to the med-techs, there was a huge crash from inside the building. With a cacophony of grinding rock, screeching metal, and screaming human, Gundark was blasted through the thick wall of the building. He flew through the air before crumpling to the ground, a half-meter hole burned through his chest.

D'harhan lumbered through the hole he had just created, holding Gundark's armored flak vest in one hand. As he emerged onto the street, armored tail undulating back and forth through the air over his shoulder, he tossed the vest toward Dala's position.

"DID YOU SERIOUSLY THINK YOUR PRECIOUS ARMOR WOULD PROTECT YOU FROM ME?"

"Gundark!" Gunslinger managed to shout, reaching out to his fallen comrade. "You bastard!"

Dala spoke up now, shouting over Gunslinger's grieved sobs. "Stop this now, D'harhan. Power down your weapon and come with us peacefully back to the station. There's been enough bloodshed for one day."

D'harhan's head-cannon focused on the Mandalorian Warrior with a deep computerized rumble and the telltale whine of hydraulics. He cocked his "head" to one side, as if curious and his status lights cooled to a dull gold glow. "I HAVE A JOB TO DO. YOU ARE IMPEDING THE COMPLETION OF A CONTRACT."

"And what is your contract?" Dala inquired.

"THE APPREHENSION AND ELIMINATION OF THE CHANGELING TARGET CORO CARANTHYR. I WAS ADVISED BY MY COMPANION, FLESHLING MOQENA, TO INTERCEDE ON YOUR BEHALF."

Dala blinked, obviously surprised. Jay was just as shocked. Jay had indeed asked for his help in bringing Caranthyr to justice. But if D'harhan wasn't fighting against them, why was he killing their men? What did he know that Jay and the others didn't?

Dala said as much. "Then why are you attacking our men?"

"BECAUSE YOUR GATHERING OF FLESHLING WARRIORS IS HARBORING MY TARGET."

Shocked whispers went up and down the line of assembled troopers. Jay mirrored their shock.

Caranthyr is here? And he's being sheltered by one of our own? It made sense that Caranthyr would have a man on the inside, but who could it be? Dala had vouched for all these men and women. Caranthyr must be far more persuasive than she originally thought.

She took a step toward D'harhan and raised such concerns. "So you're not after us, D? You're just after Caranthyr?"

His head-cannon instantly snapped to her position. Its status lights burst into fiery red and he rumbled, "PRIMARY CONTACT ACQUIRED. COMMENCING ATTACK."

"Oh, shit!" Jay ducked as D'arhan clamped his tail and fired, sending a human-sized cannon bolt sizzling through the air over her head. It collided with a building further down the street, burning out the entire ground floor and setting nearby buildings on fire.

"That answer's good enough for me!" Denton shouted. He grabbed Jay's arm and hauled her toward the ambulence. "We have to go!"

D'harhan was lumbering after them, charging up his cannon for another shot. Dala, meanwhile, motioned for his troops to open fire. In the blink of an eye, the street erupted into a maelstrom of blue-white stun round fire. D'harhan staggered under the barrage, giving Jay and Denton time to jump in the speeder. Jay stuck her head out the window and gestured to the med-techs loading Gunslinger into the back. "Hurry up and get in!"

They were more than happy to comply. They quickly pushed Gunslinger inside, then hopped in the back. One of the med-techs secured Gunslinger to his stretcher and shouted, "Go! Go!"

Jay grasped the wheel tightly and floored the accelerator. The speeder let out a tortured screech and shot off down the street, racing away from the battlefield. Jay was about to let out a relieved breath when she looked at the rearview holo-readout. Through the readout, she saw D'harhan shake off the effects of the blaster fire and lurch after them. He took off at a fast lumber, armored feet pounding the ground. He moved faster than Jay thought possible for a creature his size. After only moments, he was beginning to close the gap between himself and the ambulance.

"He's all yours now, you two," Dala said over comms. "Just keep him occupied; reinforcements and air support is en route. We're not abandoning you."

D'harhan charged like a wild rancor, footsteps leaving tiny craters in the ground as he lumbered after the speeder. She'd always known he could move faster than his massive frame suggested, but she did not know just how quickly his cybernetics-enhanced body could carry him. He threw himself into the oncoming lane, swatting speeders aside like annoying insects. As Jay watched, D'harhan scooped up a speeder taxi barreling down on him, lifting above his robotic head and hurling it at them.

"Incoming!" Denton shouted. Jay yanked the wheel to one side, momentarily swerving into the oncoming lane to avoid the huge projectile. The dull gold taxi slammed hard into the road and began flipping end-over-end, sending shrapnel flying everywhere.

D'harhan, meanwhile, was simply forcing his way through traffic by either throwing aside other speeders or simply barreling over them and crushing them to a pulp under his weight. Now that he had momentum on his side, nothing short of a solid durasteel wall was going to slow him down.

"Try and lure him toward the enforcement offices," Dala suggested over comms. "I've got heavy riot troopers en route that may be able to pacify him. High ordnance, heavy restraints, pretty much our usual gear to bring down Barabel troublemakers."

Denton moved to reply when D'harhan unexpectedly fired. His forward momentum allowed him to attack without clamping his tail to use as a support strut, but the explosion did slow his progress slightly.

Jay jerked the wheel to the side again, causing the ambulance to swing wildly to the edge of the road. The cannon shot exploded just over a meter away. The detonation shook the speeder and Gunslinger let out a protesting shout as he was jostled about. The two med-techs did their best to stabilize him, but it did little good. D'harhan fired a second time and this time his round erupted against the duracrete road in front of them. Fire washed over the hood of the ambulance, searing the paint and twisting the metal.

The ambulance fishtailed as Jay fought to bring it back into the road. Denton flipped on the siren to warn anyone nearby of their approach. Oncoming speeders and pedestrians took note of the sound and quickly vacated the area, knowing that nothing good could be following the sounds of sirens and cannon fire.

As Jay struggled to get back on course, D'harhan quickly closed the gap between them. Jay pressed the accelerator pedal as hard as she could, but the alien's large steps brought them closer and closer together. He was quickly catching up to them, and in a few moments he would be right on top of them.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Denton shouted. D'harhan was only a few meters behind now and gaining fast.

Jay pressed the accelerator harder, glancing worriedly between the road and their current speed. It was far too low for her comfort, and smoke was now billowing out from the hood in front of her. The vehicle was responding to her commands sluggishly, as if it was having difficulty turning. She grimaced and said, "I don't know! That last shot fried something inside!"

"Damn it," Denton grunted. He retracted the passenger-side window and leaned out, drawing his pistol and firing at D'harhan in a vain attempt to slow him down. D'harhan let out a deep drone and fired again. This time, though, Jay was anticipating the attack and managed to pull the ambulance out of the way in time. The bolt carved a huge crater out of the side of a nearby building. Pedestrians on the street were blasted through the air and those lucky enough to escape the explosion quickly retreated, sprinting away as quickly as their feet could carry them.

Jay yanked the wheel to the left, sending the speeder careening down a side-street. Gunslinger moaned again and one of the med-techs called, "Careful up there! This guy can't take much more abuse!"

Jay did her best to follow their advice, turning the next corner a little easier. She glanced over her shoulder. "How's he doing?"

The med-tech grimaced. "We're trying to patch him up as best we can, but if we don't get him to a medcenter soon, he's not going to make it."

"I'll get us there," Jay said, pushing the accelerator. "Just hang on."

"Jay," Denton warned. When she didn't respond, he repeated, "Jay."

"What?" she snapped back at him. Denton pulled himself back into the seat and reloaded his pistol. He glanced over his shoulder, then sat back in the seat with a relieved sigh. He pulled off his helmet and rested it between his knees before wiping sweat from his forehead.

"He's gone."

Jay glanced over her shoulder as well and saw that the street behind them was empty, save for the various civilians vacating the area. D'harhan was nowhere to be seen. Jay narrowed her eyes as she turned back to face to road ahead. Where could he have gone? What is he doing?

Dala suddenly broke in over the ambulance comm. "How are you guys doing?"

Denton grabbed the comm unit and said, "Dral here. We just lost D'harhan. I think we're in the clear."

"He just disappeared?"

Denton nodded. "Yes sir, we lost him. Must have given him the slip when we turned our last corner."

Jay chipped in and said, "We're heading to the medcenter to drop off Gunslinger. Any orders after that?"

"We've still got heavy ordnance at the station and we're getting authorization from Shysa now to put this quadrant of the city under lockdown."

"Any orders for us specifically?" Jay inquired.

"Just get somewhere safe. D'harhan's after you, and I think it'd be a good idea for you two to get out of town."

Denton snorted. "I think it'd be a better idea if we get somewhere in high orbit."

"No," Dala said forcefully. "No ships. A ship would be a prime target for D'harhan's gun. Stay dirt-side and out of sight until I give you further orders."

"Yes sir," Denton said. "We'll head up into the mountains as soon as-"

"Denton!" Jay suddenly shouted. She slammed on the brakes as a dark green, hulking mass came barreling down a nearby alley. She tried to swerve out of the way, but it was too late. D'harhan slammed his heavy shoulder into the side of the ambulance. Jay felt like the entire world had been flipped upside-down in an instant. With a scream of tortured metal and the dying whine of the damaged siren, the ambulance flipped end-over-end, knocked right from its repulsors by the attack. Jay screamed as the speeder was knocked on its side and began rolling violently down the street.

She could see sparks dance in front of her eyes as the duracrete ground against the driver's-side window. The transparisteel peeled away like the lid of a food ration can as the speeder continued to roll. Denton let out a shout of his own as he was thrown forward into the dashboard, his head colliding hard against the durasteel console. There was a splash of blood and he went limp.

The world felt like it was ripping itself apart and Jay was tossed back and forth in her seat, her restraints digging into her body as she was thrown in all conceivable directions from the momentum. The front viewport shattered and part of the roof caved in on top of her. The front repulsors were ripped right from their housing, spinning off down the street with a clamor of destroyed metal.

Finally, the speeder stopped rolling, now skidding across the road. It slammed hard into a nearby comm tower, their movement suddenly and jarringly halted. Jay let out one last shout as she was thrust to the side, hanging by her seat belt.

She hung there for a time, head spinning, body aching. She groggily opened her eyes, blinking slowly, and tried to pull herself up. She grabbed the wheel to hold herself up and looked around. "Ugh... is everyone okay?"

"Aye," one of the med-techs groaned from the back. "What the hell happened?"

Jay grimaced and put a hand to her throbbing forehead. "D'harhan... hit us from the side."

She reached up and shook Denton's shoulder. "Denton? You okay?"

He didn't respond. She started to get worried and put two fingers to his neck, checking for a pulse. To her relief, there was a strong, steady pulse. Unconscious, then. All right. I can work with unconscious.

She knew she probably shouldn't move him, but they didn't have a choice. Judging from the monotonous buzzing and droning coming from outside, D'harhan was still lumbering around. They needed to get free, quickly.

"CORO CARANTHYR," D'harhan boomed outside. "EXIT THE VEHICLE AND PLACE YOUR HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD OR I WILL BE FORCED TO OPEN FIRE."

"D'harhan!" Jay managed to shout, struggling to unbuckle herself from her seat. There was a splitting pain in her side, and it felt like she had broken a few ribs in the wreck. Blood leaked from a cut on her temple, staining her gaze red. She groaned as she tugged at her seat belt, unable to pull herself free. "D'harhan, it's me! It's Jay!"

"I REPEAT," D'harhan said, "EXIT THE VEHICLE AND PLACE YOUR HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD. I WILL GIVE YOU TEN SECONDS TO COMPLY."

Jay cursed and frantically tugged at her seat. "Hey! Either of you med-techs have a laser scalpel?"

"I'll look," one of the medics grunted. She heard him groan and sit up to begin rummaging around the mess in the back of the ambulance.

"Look fast," Jay gasped. Her seat belt wouldn't come unbuckled, jammed into its housing by the crash. She shouted and tugged on it with all her might. Outside, she heard D'harhan take a lumbering step toward them.

"TEN... NINE... EIGHT..."

"I need that kriffing scalpel!" Jay shouted, yanking against her restraints.

"I'm looking!"

"Look harder!"

"SEVEN... SIX... FIVE..."

Jay held her breath. They couldn't get free in time. There was no way-

She heard someone outside let out a shout and her eyes snapped open. She was just in time to see a multicolored Mandalorian leap up onto the overturned ambulance, race across the surface, and throw himself high into the air. With a loud snap-hiss, a glowing blue energy blade sprang to life in his hand, erupting from the hilt of a thin lightsaber pike.

The man soared forward and stabbed the weapon deep into D'harhan's chest, using the alien's thick leather skin as a handhold. He drew his arm back and stabbed again, plunging the weapon to the hilt into D'harhan's chest. The alien recoiled, letting out a dark groan as sparks flew from the wound and his skin sizzled and burned. He threw out a meaty arm, knocking the Mandalorian from his chest. Without biological readings on the hilt, the saber's fail-safe system kicked in, deactivating the blade. The pike clattered loudly to the street.

The Mandalorian clambered to his feet again, pulling two pistols from his belt. He looked over his shoulder and shouted, "Stay down, Jay. Reinforcements will be here in seconds."

"Vhetin?" she shouted back. "Is that you?"

He fired a salvo at D'harhan before the alien could aim his cannon. "Just stay put! We'll get you out of there!"

Jay continued tugging on her seat belt, then hesitated and thought, Wait, who's we?

Seconds later there was a screeching of metal and the passenger side door, facing the sky, was wrenched open. Lesianne's white-haired visage poked through the opening. Her hood was down and she had a quizzical frown on her pale face. She cocked her head to one side and pursed her lips.

"Last I looked," she said, "D'harhan was our ally. You should choose your friends with more care in the future, Moqena."

Jay grunted. "Things change. Can you help me out? Denton's out cold, I'm stuck here, and we've got an injured Mando in the back."

"Gunslinger is doing okay," one of the med-tech's reported. "We've stabilized him for now. He should be okay for a half hour or so."

There was a shout and a clang of metal on metal as Vhetin was smashed against the roof of the ambulance, hard enough to leave a man-shaped dent in the metal. He clambered back to his feet and picked up his fallen pistols. "Handmaiden, if you could get them out of there and give me a hand, I'd be most thankful."

"I will be there momentarily," the Handmaiden called. Vhetin nodded and threw himself back into the fray, firing a quick shot from his jetpack to carry him back to the fight. He took the high guard, using his rocket pack to outflank D'harhan from the sky and fire down on him at an angle from which the cyborg could not defend himself. Handmaiden quickly turned back to Jay.

"Do not move," she said, then disappeared.

Jay sighed and hung limp in her seat, thinking, Don't move. Sometimes I think that woman has a sense of humor after all.

A second later she screamed as a meter-long cylindrical bar pierced the floor of the ambulance, easily slicing through her seat belt buckle and sending her crashing to the ground. She landed in a mess of twisted durasteel and broken glass, but her armor protected her from the worst of the damage. She grunted, holding a hand to her bleeding forehead, and slowly clambered to her feet.

"Are you free?" the Handmaiden called from outside. She had to shout over the sounds of D'harhan and Vhetin battling further down the street. The telltale explosion of D'harhan's blaster cannon threatened to drown out all other sound. Jay hoped her partner was managing to hold his own.

"Are you free?" the Handmaiden repeated forcefully.

"Yeah," Jay called with a grimace. Her head was pounding from the fall and she had twisted her arm when she landed. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"Can you free Justicar Dral from his restraints?"

"I'll... I'll see. Give me a second."

"We may not have that much time."

"Then help Vhetin," she called. "Give me that much time."

"As you wish."

She heard the Handmaiden's footsteps retreating into the distance. Jay maneuvered herself into a crouch and looked up to Denton hanging above her. She reached up and shook his shoulder. "Denton? You reading me, cyar'ika?"

He didn't respond, blood dripping slowly from the cut on his forehead where he'd been smashed against the dashboard. She sighed and set to work freeing him from his seat belt. She reached down and grabbed the vibroblade she kept sheathed down her boot. The press of a button activated the glowing green blade and she reached up to cut him loose. A quick slash cut him free and he crashed down on top of her. She cried out as she was slammed into the floor again.

"Damn it," she muttered, extracting herself from under his heavy armor. She rolled him over onto his back, patting his chest and whispering, "You'll be safe here. Probably. I'm going to go help Vhetin and Les."

Looking back, she called to the med-techs working in the back. "You three okay for now?"

One of them nodded, the other hard at work cleansing Gunslinger's wounds. "We'll be fine for now. If reinforcements are incoming, we can hold here until they can get us an evac."

"All right," Jay said, then grabbed the passenger-side seat above her and hoisted herself up out of the tipped-over ambulance. Emerging into open air on top of the vehicle, she saw that D'harhan and Vhetin were fighting further down the street. Lesianne was darting in with quick, precise chops to D'harhan's legs, trying to unbalance him. As Jay watched, the bladed grasping appendage at the end of his tail grabbed her face and threw her across the street. She pulled herself into a tight reverse-somersault, recovering quickly and rolling to her feet before darting in again.

Vhetin nodded to the Handmaiden and the two quickly circled D'harhan. Vhetin triggered his jetpack again while the Echani surged forward and slid to her knees. In a single, coordinated move, Vhetin shot forward into a rocket-propelled tackle that took D'harhan around the neck while the Handmaiden kicked at the back of his knees with her boots. The combined assault knocked D'harhan off his feet, sending all three crashing to the ground in an earth-shaking cacophony.

Vhetin planted a knee on D'harhan's chest and plunged his fist into the mess of wires and pipes that made up the cyborg's neck. He let out a grunt before ripping his hand back, tearing free a handful of sparking wires. D'harhan let out a rumbling groan before his tail flashed out and caught Vhetin's leg, hoisting him off his feet. A flick of the appendage sent the bounty hunter flying head-over-heels through the air, crashing hard into a nearby collection of trash bins. He quickly recovered and threw himself back into the fight.

Jay quickly reached back into the ambulance and grabbed her shotgun, as well as Denton's rifle. He wouldn't be needing it in his condition. She ignored her screaming muscles and hopped off the overturned ambulance, heading off at a jog toward the fight unfolding further down the street.

"I don't care what you've been told!" Vhetin was shouting. "You're going after Jay! Not Caranthyr!"

"YOU ARE INTERFERING WITH MY HUNT," D'harhan rumbled, lashing out with a fist the size of Vhetin's torso. "I WILL NOT ALLOW THAT. STAND DOWN, MANDALORIAN."

Lesianne slammed her staff into the back of D'harhan's leg. He staggered forward, falling to one knee. She quickly leaped up onto D'harhan's back, stabbing her pike down into D'harhan's cybernetically-augmented spine. There was a spray of shredded metal and an inhuman roar from the alien beneath her. Then D'harhan straightened and threw her from her perch.

She quickly scrambled back to her feet, grabbing her quarterstaff and extending it with a flick of her wrist. She fell into a predatory crouch, piercing blue eyes narrowed to slits. "You are on the wrong hunt, brute. You should be working with us, not against us."

"YOU ARE WORKING FOR CARANTHYR. YOU ARE A THREAT TO THIS INVESTIGATION."

"Listen to yourself!" Vhetin shouted, slashing with his pike to ward off another of D'harhan's heavy punches. "I don't know what's gotten into you, but somehow Caranthyr has gotten into your head!You're doing just what he wants!"

"NEGATIVE. I AM ASSISTING THE FLESHLING MOQENA AND TRACKING CORO CARANTHYR. I RECIEVED INTELLIGENCE THAT HE WAS HIDING AT THE SCENE OF THE ENFORCEMENT OFFICE SHOOTOUT."

"Jay was the one at the shootout! They couldn't find Caranthyr!"

"WHEN I ARRIVED ON SCENE," D'harhan continued, knocking Lesianne away with a heavy backhanded blow to the face, "I FOUND CARANTHYR WORKING WITH THE LOCAL ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS. HE ATTEMPTED TO FLEE. I GAVE CHASE."

Jay managed to squeeze of a single round with her shotgun. It hit D'harhan in the neck, sending a shower of durasteel fragments fluttering into the air. He recoiled, letting out a deep buzz, and turned to her.

"IDENTITY CONFIRMED," he thundered. "CORO CARANTHYR. PLACE YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEAD."

Jay sighed and muttered, "Ah, kriff."

"Jay, what are you doing?" Vhetin shouted. "He's after you! Get back!"

D'harhan clamped his tail and fired, but the Handmaiden managed to tackle Jay from the side and drive her out of the way. The cannon round exploded against the sidewalk, carving a meter-deep chunk out of the road.

"Go!" Lesianne shouted, shoving her to her feet. "We'll hold him back as best we can!"

Jay didn't need to hear that twice. She scrambled away, taking off down a tight alley nearby. She could hear Vhetin and the Handmaiden shouted behind her, but didn't bother to look back. Another cannon round exploded against the building over her head and she screamed and covered her head.

She took the next alley she could, hoping she could outmaneuver D'harhan in these tight back alleys. She could hear him right behind her, heavy feet pounding against the sidewalk. She ducked through a tight gap in a wooden plan fence, hearing D'harhan simply smash through it seconds later.

"D'harhan, it's me!" she shouted over her shoulder. "It's Jay!"

She tried to swing around to fire at him. But before she could, she felt something hard and metallic slam into her face. She felt the razor blade manipulators of D'harhan's tail wrap around her head as he hoisted her into the air. She grabbed the manipulators and tried to yank them off her face, vainly attempting to pull herself from his grasp. But she wasn't nearly strong enough to pry him away.

He transferred her from his tail to his hand, wrapping his thick fist around her throat and squeezing hard enough to make her choke and gasp. The manipulators on his tail snapped together with a rasping clang, like a kath hound baying for blood while its master prepared a meal.

"CORO CARANTHYR," D'harhan droned, "YOU ARE A MURDER, A TERRORIST, AND A THREAT TO THOSE AROUND YOU. AS SUCH, I AM PLACING YOU UNDER ARREST AND TURNING YOU IN TO CLAIM THE BOUNTY ON YOUR HEAD."

"D, it's me," she choked. "I'm... I'm a friend."

He cocked his massive mechanical head, status lights pulsing red. "YOU ARE CORO CARANTHYR. I AM CHARGED TO BRING YOU TO JUSTICE."

"Y-you..." she gasped and tried to frantically suck in breath. "You don't... have to do this! You don't..."

His grip tightened on her throat and she gasped for air. The Handmaiden suddenly sprinted around the corner and threw herself at D'harhan. She managed to land a weak shot to a boxy augmentation on his neck, sending shrapnel flying. But the huge alien seemed to already know she was there, and he threw out a fist that caught her straight in the face. The woman was knocked away from the force of the blow, slamming hard into the brick wall on one side of the alley. She crumpled to the ground and fell still.

With the pop and hiss of coolant tubes, D'harhan's cannon swiveled back to face Jay. The newest wound on his neck sparked and the nearest coolant tubes twitched. When he next spoke, his voice stuttered and echoed itself, as if its programming had suddenly become corrupted. "I-I HAVE NO CH-CHOICE. I..."

His voice suddenly sputtered and glitched and his status lights flashed rapidly. He let out a deep, synthesized groan and his grip on her neck relaxed. A blasting, monotonous drone erupted from his voice box and he released his grip on her throat. She fell heavily to the ground, falling to her hands and knees. D'harhan, surprisingly, followed her, falling to his knees and clutching at his throat. Sparks erupted from the mess of tangled tubes and armor that anchored his weapon into his chest. Another sputtering blast from his vocoder and he looked up at her.

"RUN," he insisted desperately. "THAT LAST BLOW WEAKENED HIS HOLD. I AM FIGHTING HIS CONTROL, BUT I CANNOT KEEP HIM OUT MUCH LONGER. ONCE HE REGAINS CONTROL, I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO KEEP HIM FROM MY MIND."

"D?" Jay gasped. She put a hand on his muscular shoulder. "What's wrong with you? How can I help you?"

"YOU MAY HELP BY FLEEING THE SCENE. I BELONG TO CARANTHYR NOW. I CANNOT ESCAPE HIM. BUT YOU CAN."

"D, we can help you," Jay insisted. "Let us get you to a medcenter. If you have one of those collars on you, we can try and get it out."

"HE IS REGAINING CONTROL," D'harhan droned, his huge, taloned hands digging furrows into the duracrete. "FLEE. NOW. YOU WILL NOT GET A SECOND CHANCE."

"D'harhan-"

He let out another blast from his vocoder, the closest he could come to a scream. His arms and hands twitched and sparks flew from his cannon. Then, all at once, he went still. He took a few deep breaths, then straightened to his full height. His status lights flashed and he staggered to his feet.

"D'harhan," Jay said again as he lumbered back out onto the street.

He seemed oblivious to her. He limped out into the street, talking to himself the entire time. She followed closely behind, unsure whether to try and help her friend or run for her life. He shook his heavy cannon-head and rumbled, "RE-PRIORITIZING TARGETS. ERROR. SHUTTING DOWN PROCESSING CORTEX. JAMMING INTERCEPTOR SIGNAL. CARANTHYR WILL NOT HAVE ME WITHOUT A FIGHT."

He fell to his knees and slammed a massive fist into a metal manhole cover in the street, denting the metal deeply. With an almighty wrench he tore the plate from the ground, taking a good part of the street with it. Once he had finished, he was standing before a massive aperture that led down to the sewers.

He turned his compound cannon toward Jay, his status lights pulsing green. "I CANNOT MAKE AMENDS FOR WHAT I HAVE DONE. THIS IS THE BEST I CAN DO."

Before Jay could speak, he turned and leaped down into the hole, disappearing into the sewers below.


Oyu'baat Plaza, 1000 hours

Ixas was waiting for them at the plaza already, an imposing figure standing in the center of the square for all to see. He was wearing burnished scarlet armor with a black shoulder cape, his helmet under one arm. His hands were resting confidently on his hips and his head was cocked to one side. A smile tugged his bearded face as they approached and his cybernetic eye flashed and buzzed as it scanned them.

"Well, well, well," he said in his calm, softly-accented voice. "Janada Bralor. I imagine it's been a decade since last I saw you."

"It hasn't been long enough, osik'kov," Janada hissed.

"Now now, there is no need to descend into petty insults."

"I went to prison because of you," Janada snapped, taking a step forward. "Not those cushy little cells up in Bone City. Prison. Do you have any idea what that's like? Being dropped in to General Population with every sadistic son of a bitch with a score to settle?"

"I'm truly sorry for the way our relationship ended, but business is business. I had to minimize my losses."

"Kriff your losses," Janada snapped. "And kriff you while you're at it."

Brianna pushed in on the conversation, putting a calming hand on Janada's shoulder plate. "Look, I get it that you two hate each other. But the fact is, we've got business to settle. Do you have the information we asked for?"

"Aye," Ixas agreed. "But I'm afraid our business must be terminated."

Brianna narrowed her eyes while Janada fumed. "Why?"

"Why, because your party failed to abide by the very simple rules I laid down. I told you to come alone, my dear Ms Bralor. And if you cannot abide by the rules I set down, then how can I trust you to keep our deal confidential?"

Janada shook off Brianna's hand and said, "Seriously?"

"I am very serious. I cannot-"

"You thought I wouldn't recognize Torrez back there watching us through the window of the Oyu'baat? And Lillith and Daxos pretending to look at that market stall behind you? I was part of the crew, you idiot. I recognize my old co-workers."

Ixas narrowed his eyes and said nothing. He eventually looked over his shoulder and jerked his head, motioning for his backup to move up. As the three Mandalorians flanked him, he sighed and said, "Very well. You called my bluff. I suppose you have earned the right to this information."

He held out a hand and Janada's old co-worker Torrez pulled a datachip from his belt and handed it to Ixas. The Mandalorian drug lord sighed, as if unwilling to part with a precious trinket. He held it out to Janada, but when she went to take it from him he suddenly jerked it back.

"Before I give this to you," he said, "I want to make sure you know what you're getting yourself into. Do you know whose toes you'll be treading on by accessing this information?"

"I'll cross that bridge when I get there," Janada said with a scowl.

"Not with these people," Ixas pressed. "I know you think you're something of a hotshot, Bralor, but these people will reduce everything you love to ashes and leave you for last."

"Thanks, but we can handle ourselves."

"Janada, you don't understand. You're-"

"Gun!" someone suddenly shouted. A second later, bright red blaster bolts cut down the two Mandalorians flanking Ixas. The drug lord threw himself back, grabbing a beskad his one remaining companion tossed him. "Fall back!"

He pulled his helmet on and hefted his sword. "I should have known not to trust you, Bralor. I hope those you hunt burn your entire Clan to the ground."

Janada scowled and followed Brianna as the other woman sprinted for cover. They had both forfeited their weapons before entering the plaza. Though they could hold themselves in hand-to-hand combat, fighting unarmed against men with guns and swords was not a bright idea. Brianna covered her head as she ducked behind a market stand filled with fruits. Janada was right on her heels.

"Bloody hell!" Brianna shouted. "Who the hell started shooting?!"

Janada threw herself into cover behind her as blaster shots stitched the ground at her feet. "No idea! But I'm starting to think this whole thing was a kriffing trap!"

Ixas and his remaining bodyguard were falling back toward the Oyu'baat, driven away under a hail of blaster fire. Other Mandalorians scattered around the plaza were drawing their own weapons and searching for the source of the commotion. Janada followed the sounds of blaster fire to their source.

"Kriff," she muttered. "You're not going to be happy, Brianna."

"What? Why?"

"Your cyar'ika seems to be the one playing the Boba Fett wannabe."

"What?! Oh, you've got to be kriffing me..."

Snake was advancing up the center of the plaza, Brianna's pistols in either hand and firing at Ixas and his bodyguard. He was shrugging off the few stray blasters that managed to clip him. With a dual-shot from his weapons he knocked Ixas' bodyguard to his knees. Another round caught the man in the throat, knocking him down permanently. Ixas stumbled, his last bodyguard gone.

Snake saw the misstep and took advantage of it; a blaster shot to each thigh drove Ixas to his hands and knees. Galaar loomed over him, reloading his pistols as he snarled, "You're finished, kriffer."

Ixas tried to lash out with his beskad, but Snake knocked it away with a swift, precise kick. Janada was close enough to hear him snarl, "You're done, Ixas."

Ixas let out a weak chuckle, trying vainly to staunch the blood flow in his legs. "I should have known a backstabbing bastard like you would be the end of me."

"Yeah," she heard Galaar hiss. "You should have."

He couldn't be thinking what Janada thought he was. Snake knew how important Ixas and his data was to their investigation. But the firm set of the man's jaw and the tight grip on the pistol gave away his intentions. Janada cursed and threw herself out of cover, shouting, "No! We need him alive!"

Too late; Galaar rested his pistol against Ixas' forehead and pulled the trigger. The drug lord was blasted back off his feet, skidding across the plaza to the indignant shouts and frightened screams of onlookers. He flipped the corpse a rude hand gesture and muttered, "Good riddance, chakaar."

"What the hell?!" Janada shouted, jogging up to the man. She shoved him hard in the back, sending him staggering. "We needed him alive you idiot!"

Snake rounded on her. "The man had a gun, you stupid woman. What did you want me to do, let you and Brianna get yourselves killed?"

Janada shoved him aside. "Just get out of the way before you screw anything else up."

She turned Ixas' body onto its back and began rummaging around in his belt-pouches. Her face was pulled down in a dark scowl and she muttered, "Where is it? Where the kriff is it?"

Brianna jogged up as well. "What are you looking for?"

"The kriffing datachip this kriffer was going to kriffing trade!" Janada said, not even bothering to censor her language. "Where the kriff is it?!"

Galaar shook his head. "I think your friend has finally lost it, Brianna. I didn't see any datachip."

"He had it in his goddamned hand!" Janada shouted at him. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"Hey," Snake snapped, "I just saved both your asses!"

"Janada," Brianna said. She gestured to Ixas' right hand, where a tiny hold-out blaster was tucked into a special compartment on his gauntlet. "Galaar was right. He had a gun."

"I don't give a shit about the gun!" Janada snarled. "Where's the kriffing datachip!"

"Roll him over," Brianna suggested. "Maybe he fell on it."

Janada bit her lip, scowling deeper if possible. "He better not have. Those chips are fragile and if-"

As she rolled the Mandalorian over, she indeed saw that the chip had fallen to the ground when he fell. The chip was bent and partially shattered; the weight of his armor had crushed the delicate machinery inside the chip. It was useless now.

"No," Janada said, grabbing it. "No, maybe the processing matrix is still... maybe..."

She plugged the chip into the port at the back of her helmet, but the chip was destroyed. It wouldn't even show up on her HUD as a viable input device. Yanking it roughly from her helmet, she threw the broken chip with a furious shout. She clenched her hands into fists and spun towards Snake. She rose to her feet, short frame shaking in suppressed rage.

"You did that on purpose," she snarled at him. "You killed him so Ixas couldn't give us the information."

"Ridiculous," Snake scoffed. "What, you think I'm working for Caranthyr now?"

"That data was going to point us right to Caranthyr's employers!"

"Good for you," Snake shot back. "But I wasn't going to stand by and let that bastard cut you two down. I'd do it again."

"Jan," Brianna slowly said, "Ixas did have a gun. I told you he was untrustworthy."

"Bullshit!" Janada snapped. "He was willing to trade!"

"Maybe," Brianna said. "Or maybe he just wanted to lure you into a trap. No way to know."

"Maybe if you'd been able to pull your head out of your ass," Galaar sneered, "you may have been smart enough to grab the chip before I opened fire and you'd have the data. But that's a Bralor for you, I guess: run first, think later."

That was the final straw; Janada whirled back to him and let out a howl of rage. She threw herself at him, landing a punch to his unarmored throat. She took him by surprise and he sputtered and clutched at his throat. She followed with an uppercut to the chin before tackling him around the waist and bringing them both to the ground.

"Stop it! Both of you!" Brianna shouted.

Janada didn't listen. She ripped his helmet off and began punching him hard in the face. There was a sickening crack and blood began to pour from his nose. Another punch and his nose folded to one side, the internal cartilage broken. Another punch and blood now coated Janada's balled-up fist.

"I'll kill you!" she shouted as she continued punching him, "Mando or not, I swear I will!"

While he was disoriented, she grabbed her kad'ikase from his belt and crossed them in an X across his neck. A flick of her wrist would be all it would take to cut into flesh and separate his smug head from his body. He narrowed her eyes, tightened her grip on the hilts of her daggers, and-

There was a sharp clack as something metallic hit the back of her helmet. Janada froze, her 360-degree window showing Brianna standing behind her, one of her pistols aimed point-blank at the back of Janada's head.

"Get off of him," Brianna hissed. "Now."

But Janada wasn't about to give up that easily and Brianna's pistol couldn't hurt her unless it hit her armor's weak points. So Janada turned quickly and slashed with her dagger, knocking the other woman's pistol away. She threw Brianna off-balance, giving Janada time to get to her feet. Brianna quickly regained her balance and snapped her pistol back to aim at Janada's chest.

"He insults me," Janada growled, rising to her feet as the two women began circling each other, "he insults my Clan, and then he goes on to lose our best chance to track down Caranthyr's employers. And now you're going to defend him?!"

"He's my bloody boyfriend," Brianna retorted, her aim steady and unwavering. In the distance they heard the telltale sirens of enforcement office speeders, no doubt responding to calls about the earlier gun battle. "Of course I'm going to defend him!"

"That man," Janada snapped, gesturing to Galaar's limp form, "is a threat to this investigation and a shame to the Mandalorian name and I-"

"I don't give a damn about the Mandalorian name," Brianna interrupted. "I'm not going to let you kill him in cold blood. Stand down, now."

Janada held the other woman's gaze for a long time, debating whether to follow her orders or leap forward and attempt to incapacitate her. They both knew this fight wouldn't be fatal, but tempers were flaring and both had a history of overreacting in such situations. A bout between them could be potentially dangerous.

It wasn't easy, but Janada let out an explosive curse and sheathed her daggers. "Fine," she spat. "Just know that we could have saved lives with that data and your shitstain of a boyfriend destroyed it."

Brianna sighed in relief and holstered her pistol. "Fine. Just... put some distance between yourself and Galaar. Go buy a drink from Aramis while I get him on his feet."

"Kriff you," Janada snapped. "I'm not letting that bastard out of my sight. He should be arrested. Tried for treason, if I was in charge."

Suddenly, the police speeders arrived. Gold-armored officers jumped out of their vehicles, weapons trained on Janada, Brianna, and the unconscious Snake alike. One of the officers shouted, "Weapons down! Hands on your head now!"

Brianna let out a curse and muttered, "Well, looks like we're all getting arrested. Again."

She looked over at Janada as the enforcement officers rushed forward to cuff them. "Happy now?"