Chapter 29.

Latest edit; July 29th, 2015. Cheers and Enjoy.

The rain fell in large drops, obstructing Torian's sights on his target.

Inhale. Exhale.

Eyes opened with renewed focus as a sound from behind alerted him to an intruder.

The knife was out and vibrating with the force to rend durasteel before he'd had time to think or assess the threat. The intruder was on him before he'd had the chance to properly disengage from his blaster rifle. Torian dropped the blaster as he made a single wide sweep with his blade. Armour fell away from the intruder, human male; approximately 6 feet in height and no more than 200lbs.A bit heavier than Torian without beskar'gam(1). Except Torian was in full armour, bucket on and locked in place, which put him at almost a full hundred pounds of weight advantage. Torian reminded himself not to be cocky, this intruder was here to kill him and he could have a high velocity frag grenade. Those things would go through even the best of armour.

Time became still as the two men engaged in an art that was as old as their basest instincts. It was like a dance they both knew the steps to, all force and action causing a reaction.

The intruder tried to stab at Torian with a force Pike.

Torian moved in fluid motion out of the weapon's way and countered by cutting the man's arm clean off.

Always be the one to lead, never be the one to react. His mother had taught him that. Good lesson.

Torian didn't let the intruder suffer. He'd been brave to attack a fully seasoned and battle-hardened Mandalorian. Torian gave him the honour of a swift end, gathered his belongings and banged out. If one of them had found his pigeon's nest, others would follow and he still had a target to take care of.

Torian was more concentrated on the speed of his escape rather than its subtlety. A mistake on his part and it had him cursing as he ran straight into a squad of what looked like the competition.

Non-Mandalorian bounty hunters always made Torian a bit wistful, they aspired to greatness but had almost all the wrong training. He admired how well some of them did, but in the end they were second grade stuff. Torian clenched his jaw and did his best not to grind his teeth with the force his muscles used. They were surprised, hadn't heard or expected his arrival, so he had a split second to take advantage before the superior numbers of the opposing squad did him in. It's not that he was an elitist, but he knew his brothers and sisters and they were always better. He inhaled and his body exploded with purpose and direction. He had twelve people to neutralize by himself and that was no small feat, not even for a raised and trained Mandalorian.

"What's all that racket, Cadera?"

Torian jumped in the fray, retractable blades drawn and ready. The first two men sank to the ground without any resistance, they never had the chance to react before Torian ripped their throats out. No gorgets, poor planning.

"Busy."

"Oh yea? Tell me about it."

Torian tried not to groan, the comm link between himself and his commanding officer, and best friend, Corridan Ordo would transfer that groan. That and it wasn't Corridan's fault that he'd gotten himself into this mess.

"Nest's been discovered, dispatching squad, talk more later."

Torian spun on his location, going down into a crouch all the while, he cut all four men's legs at the knees around him, they sunk down, blood shooting out in thin arches as larger arteries were cut and bleeding. The sound of pain was all around Torian, like a theme song, full of lament and loss.

"Woah, wait a second, you're taking out a squad right now?"

Torian grunted as his only response as he jumped at the next person standing nearest to him. The blades sunk into the man's chest, poor plating on their armour if his blades went through so clean. Torian shook his head a bit as he disapproved of these men's kits. What had they been thinking? That they were going for a stroll?

A blaster bolt missed his helmet by a fair width. Torian tumbled out of his position to take cover behind a pillar. He let his muscles act with their own trained memory as he charged up his blaster and prepared for the gun fight. He counted the seconds of silence and inactivity.

"Seriously, Torian? A squad?"

Torian sighed at Corridan's persistence. "You're a busy man, wasn't gonna bother you."

Torian was out from cover and shooting after he'd reached three. You never wanted to stay in any given position too long, no matter how well protected it was, grenades were nasty things to deal with. They had a bad habit of rending limbs from bodies.

"Right, okay, whatever you say show off!"

Torian sputtered and flinched mid swing at Corridan's comment.

"What, you calling me a shabla(2) show off!?"

Torian avoided the force pike that came swinging down towards him, but only by a hair's breadth as he side stepped to find himself behind his attacker. His retractable blade punched through the thorax of his attacker and he gave it a little twist for good measure before withdrawing it and moving onto the next man.

Only four more remained. And they had all decided that they preferred their odds from behind the safety of cover. Torian took aim and shot at the first one who tried to shoot at him, straight through his visor and through his right eye. Blood sputtered through the helmet as the blaster bolt entered the man's skull and followed it for a couple of inches as it flew through. The man's head fell back, almost languid as the rest of his body went limp and sunk with an almost sleep-like laziness to the ground. His fall was gentle, his end painless.

Torian tumbled and took cover behind a crate. He controlled his breathing and continued to count.

"Oh, I don't know, ever hear of calling for help?"

Torian rolled his eyes and sighed as he let the blaster relax in his lap.

"Really? Now?"

"Twelve guys, Torian, really? Your girlfriend's going to kill me!"

Torian tried not to lose his temper, but it was hard to keep his breathing even.

He wished Raidre was his girlfriend.

He had never missed anyone as much as he had missed her in the last month. He'd been counting down every second he spent away from her. It hurt to be away, but it was for the better, she was better off without him slowing her down.

Torian holstered his rifle and waited, he could hear the last three men closing in on him. He inhaled and exhaled as he let his knuckles relax, then his arms and shoulders. He let relaxation flow through ever muscle down to his toes. Being too tense was as dangerous as too lax. If you tensed up too much, you would take damage with every hit you dealt, counterproductive.

"Not mine, Cor."

The rest of the squad closed in on him and Torian finished them off as quickly as he could. He sucker punched the first to reach him in the throat. With his hyoid bone broken in one strike, the man began to choke as he could no longer breathe. Torian grabbed him and let his attacker's body shield him as his two comrades took shots at him. Torian aimed his own blaster for their heads and hearts and took out the last two members of the enemy squad.

The man in his arms was littered with holes and long gone. Torian laid him down and banged out.

"You know she could be yours, right?"

"How do you figure?"

Corridan smirked and chuckled through the comm link. "I bet she's waiting for you to just ask."

NOTES:

1. Armour in Mando'a.

2 .Screwed up, but can often be used as hell, shit or fuck as well.