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Chapter XI-Day 899-0500 Hours-Clone Wars-Dxun-Mandalorian Camp
I could not believe my eyes. I did not know if Scorch, Fixer, or Twenty-Two believed their eyes either. All I knew is that I did not believe mine. When people do not believe their eyes they think they are dreaming. I wished I were dreaming.
What we saw was incredible: A whole base of Mandalorians! The entire place was a relic of the Mandalorian wars. That war has been long dead, and a race that was only known to have few left existed. It was like finding another world on just a simple planet.
"Impossible." Said Twenty-Two
"It's obviously not impossible." Fixer corrected
"They're everywhere." Scorch said astonished.
"There must be at least 500 of them." I said. "Okay, split up."
Twenty-Two and I left Scorch and Fixer and walked deeper into the camp.
"I don't understand." Twenty-Two said. "An entire civilization, thought to be lost, is right here, right in front of us."
In time we came across a group of Mandalorians fighting each other on a mound of dirt.
"A battle circle." Twenty-Two said.
"Once we get settled in we'll have some fun there." I said.
We continued to watch the Mandalorian battle. Eventually another onlooker noticed us and walked up to me. "Kel, Draton, good to see you guys again."
"Good to be back." I replied.
"Want to join the battle circle?" He suggested.
"Not right now, maybe later."
"Did you hear about the Republic Army on Onderon?"
Twenty-Two joined in, "No, what are you talking about?"
The Mandalorian continued, "The Clone Army is over Onderon as we speak. This will probably mean an upcoming battle against them."
"Why do you think that?" I asked.
"Onderon is a populated city, it would be a dumb idea for the two fighting armies to chose that as a battlefield. Dxun is known to be much more remote, filled with forests and animals. Little do they know we have an army set up here. When the two armies come to fight here, we can let ourselves be known."
"All right, the two of us need to go." I mentioned.
"Okay, don't forget, bonfire tonight." He called back while leaving.
Twenty-Two asked me, "What do you think is his name?" Immediately I answered, "Kelborn."
"How did you know that?"
"His suit had Mandalorian writing on it."
"You know Mandalorian?" He said surprised.
"My teacher taught me Mandalorian, along with the rest of my squad."
The two of us came across a large building with a satellite mounted on top of it. We entered the building, the inside was pretty simple, a console, probably for communication. Other interior objects were workbenches and ammo crates. I closed the door behind us.
"Twenty-Two." I said.
"Yes sir?" he replied in a question-like tone.
"Is your helmet only linked to me?" "Yes, sir."
"Okay, from now on, just call me Boss or Three-Eight. Unless we're undercover."
"Boss?"
"It's my nickname, and call the stubborn guy with gold armor 'Scorch', the other guy is Fixer. That is their nicknames."
I paused for a moment trying to think on what to say next.
"I'm sure we will get you a nickname soon, but not yet. We each have our own nickname and," I paused in my speech, and remembered; this was a commando, he knew what a nickname was.
"You already know about nicknames, never mind. Come on."
I began to walk towards the door when he replied, "No I don't."
I immediately stopped, and slowly turned. "What was that?"
"I'm a Clone Commando Reserve." He replied. I stared back at him puzzled. So he tried to explain, "Look each of you has a strong ability, right? What is Scorch's?"
"Demolitions." I said confused.
"Fixer?"
"Slicing and hacking."
"And you?"
"Leadership, what does this have to do with anything?"
"These abilities came naturally, and you had no choice. But a Clone Commando Reserve will have normal commando abilities, and choose a talent. Then we have to train for that ability"
Thing began to make sense. "So what is you ability?"
"Historical records, and stealth."
I tilted my head to let him know I didn't understand.
"In Galactic Basic, my mind is like an encyclopedia, and a dictionary, mixed together with the Jedi Archives."
"That's good to know, we can use a man like you."
"Boss." He said.
"Yes?"
"I think this is where the Republic intercepted the large power reading."
Good thinking. "Unless there is a bigger one," I replied.
"Sir?"
"This may not be the only camp here on Dxun. That Mandalorian said they have an army."
"If that is true, I think this is the main one. If Mandalore were here, this would be the main base, meaning the greatest amount of power."
"Makes sense, now follow me."
I took Twenty-Two over to a supply shed with some tools inside. Repeatedly Twenty-Two nagged me asking where we were going, and what we were doing. I just remained silent, and eventually Twenty-Two got the picture. I grabbed some tools and went into the communications base. I closed the door behind me until there was a little crack left so I could peak out the door."Here," I said giving him the tools, "open up that console and hack into it. We need to get into contact with the Advisor."
"Okay." He replied without question and immediately went to work. Twenty-Two knelt down to a panel at the bottom of the console, unscrewed it and lied down underneath the console.
Minutes passed without anyone coming in and Twenty-Two was still working on the computer. Every second was frustrating, fearing someone would come in.
Suddenly I saw a bronze colored Mandalorian walking up the ramp to the room. "Blast, someone's coming." I whispered. "Get all the way in the console, take the screws with you. I'll close it." Twenty-Two slid himself all the way underneath the terminal behind the panels. I closed up the panel he opened, hoping it would stay. I kept my leg near it and leaned over the console, pushing random buttons. It did not really matter, the console was off.
"Kel, what are you doing here," A voice from behind me asked. I turned around, and saw the bronze armored Mandalorian standing in the doorway.
I stared at him for a moment, thinking of an answer. "Oh, just trying to get this comm. unit running. It's been malfunctioning lately."
"Well, its off you laigrack. Use your head son." The Mandalorian replied, while pushing me aside, going to turn the console on himself. He started pushing the button to turn it on, but Twenty-Two had cut the power earlier.
"Hmm." The Sergeant pondered. He began pounding the mechanism, and the panel next to his leg fell out. Blast!
"What are you doing down there Draton?" The Sergeant yelled.
I suddenly had a great solution to all of this. "That's what I've been trying to tell you Sergeant," I explained to both Draton (not knowing what to say) and the Sergeant, "Someone complained that the communications center was not working. After a brief inspection, it was discovered that the problem was with the terminal. So Sergeant Zeb sent Draton and I to head on over here to fix the problem." I stopped and leaned over to Twenty-Two, "And no, that new cool fan didn't solve anything. I told you to take a look at the PSU."
Draton nodded, "Sorry." The Sergeant looked between the two of us for a moment. Draton had continued his "work", and I was looking back at the Sergeant. He slowly nodded his head. "Very well. Let me know when you get that terminal fixed."
I saluted him, said "yes sir", and he left. I nearly closed the door, leaving a crack to see. I then plopped my helmet off and swiped the sweat from my brow. "Thank the Mandalorians for helmets. Its far easier to lie through tinted, black helmets than face to face." I smiled and got back into position.
Finally, Twenty-Two called out, "Got it."
I walked over to the console and took my helmet off. "Guard the door."
Twenty-Two jumped out from underneath the console, grabbed his rifle and walked up to the door.
"I left it open a bit." I mentioned and pressed the talk button.
"Advisor, this is Delta Three-Eight come in."
"Delta Three-Eight? Good to hear you, we lost contact for some time."
"We infiltrated a Mandalorian base, and found dozens of Mandalorians. I don't think you should come in yet, this may not be the only base on the planet, we will need some more time."
"Mandalorians, on Dxun? What are they doing here?"
"I don't know, one said that they have an army here."
"Okay, we can give you more time. We will continue to be in orbit around Onderon. Advisor out."
The screen went static, and Twenty-Two spoke, "I modified my helmet so we can tap into the comm. system and talk openly to Scorch, Fixer, or the Advisor when we want. We will just be using the signal of this satellite."
"Good thinking," I replied, "Try to fix this console as best as you can."
Twenty-Two went over to the console and knelt down, "And Twenty-Two," he looked up, I tossed my helmet over to him, "rig my helmet once you are done with that."
He smiled and continued working.