1 BTC, The agricultural world of Concord Dawn…

"Ba'vodu, I don't want to go hunting with some… woman. She'll only slow me down." Xaffaj said to Askaun, his adoptive father – more considered an uncle by him than anything else. They were tending their fields, digging into the raw earth to prepare it for the next planting. Askaun leaned on his hoe and turned to face Xaffaj. The human boy still had both of his deep brown eyes and both of those eyes were focused solely on tilling the ground beneath their feet.

"Di'kut," He insulted, "You'll never get anywhere in Mando'ad society with a sexist attitude – I've told you this many times." Askaun reminded. Xaffaj scoffed.

"All I'm saying is that I would do better on my own." He said as he began to stretch out his back, sore from all of their hard work.

"HA! You wouldn't survive a day out in the wild by yourself. You're going to hunt with her and you're gonna like it." Askaun said as he once again dug into the soil. Xaffaj sighed.

"Fine. Who is she?"

"Daughter of an old Vod of mine." He answered, "Her name is Kelann. I think you actually met her a few years ago." He stood his hoe up in the ground and left it standing as he approached the boy. He pointed his finger in Xaffaj's face, startling the boy. "And if you touch anything past her Beskar'gam, I'll personally hollow out your head with your new blaster."

Xaffaj slowly pushed his uncle's hand out of his face.

"Of course, Ba'vodu." He said back with a more serious expression. Askaun didn't seem like he believed it in the least. After staring him down for a bit longer, Askaun grabbed the hoe from his boy's hands.

"Go get your new armor ready; you'll be leaving soon."

Sitting on his bed getting his armor on, Xaffaj finished adjusting the plates on his left gauntlet just as his uncle walked into the room. The baggy body-glove of the armor was a dull and boring beige color. The armor plates themselves were shaped a lot like the old neo-crusaders armor was, and were an opaque silver color that had a harsh contrast with the body-glove beneath it. Xaffaj went to grab his helmet with the Mandalorian standard T-shape visor, but Askaun snatched it from the bed before he could.

"Hey!"

"You don't get your buy'ce until you get back – alive or dead." He positioned the helmet underneath his arm, "This is your proving; your coming of age. This helmet will be your reward."

"So you're giving me a blaster, a Vibrosword, and armor, but nothing to protect my head with?"

"Haar'chak! Protect your head with your weapons, boy. Be a Mando!" Askaun was about to leave the room when Xaffaj muttered something under his breath.

"Mirsh'kyramud…"

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" Xaffaj replied immediately. Askaun turned once again to leave, but stopped himself.

"Oh," he began, "And this is her proving as well. If she doesn't come back, you fail, and vice-versa. Watch each other's backs."

"Meh ni nayc juaan gar… Tion'ad hukaat'kama?" Xaffaj asked, proving to his uncle that he had indeed been studying his Mando'a.

If I'm not here… Who is watching your back?

"Ka'rta ner allit adate." He said, pointing up. Askaun left the room then.

The Souls of my Clansmen.

Xaffaj wasn't exactly sure what he meant by that.

Their rickety and dirty freight shuttle shook profusely as they flew low over the bountiful fields of Concord Dawn. In the cockpit, Askaun was at home shaking back and forth with the turbulence that their cheaply kept ship afforded them. In the fuselage, Xaffaj and Kelann sat on the sides opposite each other in the less than comfortable seats provided for them. She was dressed in a suit just as baggy as his, but with blue armor plates scarred from years of use – likely by whoever passed it down to her. The two teenagers stared at each other with strange intensity in their glowering gazes. Kelann was chewing on a piece of field grass while she twirled her hair with her index finger. The two hunters knew that they were each other's' ticket to becoming a true Mandalorian, but that did not mean they would delight in each other's' company any more than they did right now.

Xaffaj looked at her draping but unkempt hair and instinctively ran his fingers through his own hair; revamping his faux-hawk and making it stand up more. She scoffed at him.

"What?" he said over the rumbling of the engines.

"Spend less time worrying about how you look and more about how you plan to stay alive." She said, rolling her eyes. Xaffaj shook his head and sighed before leaning forward, resting his elbows on his legs.

"Mir'osik…" he swore at her under his breath. The sound of the engines rattling drowned out his insult, luckily.

Soon enough, the engines had begun to settle, reducing their din to a low humming that was soothing to the ears. The ship felt as if it was only hovering now. Xaffaj realized that this was the case as the back exit ramp began to drop; only a few feet from the ground now. Xaffaj and Kelann took one quick look at each other before jumping from the back of the ship. Naught more than a few moments after their feet touched the ground, had the shuttle flown off into the distance. Xaffaj looked around and gathered himself. The two of them were alone, in a deeply wooded area of the planet unlike anything that he had seen before. Xaffaj was amazed that his uncle was even able to maneuver around the towering trees lingering above them.

Kelann began inspecting the slightly rusted sniper rifle that she had grabbed off of her back; making sure that the ammo was stocked full and in place, not in a position to likely jam or discharge prematurely. Older blaster rifles could be finicky like that and the upkeep on this weapon seemed particularly poor. The only other weapon she had was a long harvesting machete on her waist.

"Did he tell you what we're hunting?" she asked. Xaffaj shook his head.

"I'm assuming that you'll fill me in then?"

"I'm new to this planet, but apparently there's an abundance of overgrown Akk dogs in this forest – migrated by ship from Haruun Kal I bet."

Xaffaj sighed and began looking around for signs of wildlife.

"The big red repto-mammals… right?"

"That's right." Kelann said, with a hint of disdain. Xaffaj swallowed hard as he listened closely to the sounds of the forest.

"Aren't they as big as a land speeder?" he asked.

"Usually… Why? You scared?" she mocked. He slowly turned to face her with a serious look on his face (Obviously trying to play cool).

"Not scared; worried."

"Yeah, well you should be. These things' hides can deflect a Jetii laser sword." She explained, further worrying him. Xaffaj gazed around the forest in amazement with his jaw gaped.

"I've never been this far south before…" he said. The flora was nearly alien in nature to him. Xaffaj was used to watching year round as crops grew, not exploring a maze of green plants tangled together into an intangible mess of flowers and vines and moss covered logs fallen onto the ground. It did not give him comfort to know that the only animal he had ever killed that was even close to the stature of an Akk dog was a Nerf bull.

"I've never been this far from Manda'yaim before… so I win."

"That wasn't a contest." Xaffaj argued, crossing his arms.

"Everything is a contest." Kelann rebuked. "When you harvest each and every year, you hope to have more crop that the nearby homesteads, so that you are more likely to sell; to survive. In the end, the nearby homesteads may or may not survive, but at least you did. A contest."

Xaffaj nodded his head slowly as he inspected his blaster.

"Fair enough." He said.

Kelann's head shot up and she put the sniper rifle's scope to her eye, focusing forward into the dark woods with only spots of light bleeding through the canopy. She fired a single shot and then put her rifle down. Xaffaj cocked an eyebrow and looked around.

"… What in Dar'yaim was that?" he asked.

"Dinner." She said, smiling back at him. Perhaps a woman would not slow him down in the end.

"I've never killed a predator before…" Xaffaj said as the two of them sat around their small fire – only lightly flaming embers so as to not attract any beasts with the smell or the light. Kelann prodded at the fire with a stick as she chewed on the bone of the small animal she had killed. The calls of wild animals echoed through the trees as the forest branches rustled in the wind.

"That makes two of us." She said, much to Xaffaj's surprise.

Silence.

"So you're Xaffaj, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, and you must be Kelann." He said.

"Elek, I am." She answered, before changing the subject. "You do know how much I respect your father?"

"Ba'vodu. He is my Uncle, not my father." He interrupted, not answering her question.

"You're "Uncle" was a hero back in his glory days; ha, but aren't all Mandos?" she asked rhetorically.

"I know he was. Not a day goes by when I don't dream of being like him… just maybe with a few more credits in my pocket." Xaffaj said as he laughed to himself.

"Credits are always good, but no one should be in it for the credits; killing, I mean." She explained.

"As long as it doesn't cross the Resol'nare or my morals, then I'll go straight for the credits." Xaffaj said. Kelann sighed and then lied back with her head on a log, looking up at the ceiling of the forest above them with starlight clipping through the leaves.

It was a night like the one three days ago, with Kelann once again staring up at the stars. They were still looking for their Akk dogs, and so far they had had no such luck.

"I want to sail the stars someday… maybe become a Merc…"

"Kind of hard to serve your clan when you're out chasing romanticism like that." Xaffaj argued, referencing one of the six tenants of the Resol'nare.

"If I'm needed then I'll return." She said before she returned to her train of thought. "I'll get a nice starship and fly around raiding entire republic fleets…"

"By yourself?" Xaffaj said with disbelief.

"Maybe."

"That's crazy."

"Better than being stuck in the Mandalore sector my whole life. Why? Do you plan to stay here forever?" she said as she sat back up.

"No… no, I guess I want to get out of here too…"

A branch snapped in the distance over the crackling of the low fire and Xaffaj instantly began to cover the fire with dirt before diving to the ground for cover in the shadows. Kelann grabbed her rifle and dropped to the ground as well. On the inside, Xaffaj was panicked; unsure if he would come out of this hunt alive, but he knew that he had to try. Slowly, he poked his head up over one of the many logs to see what it was that had made the noise. Far in the distance, he could barely make out three humanoid figures weaving around the trees. Crackly reptilian voices echoed loudly from their gullets as dangling skin hung off of their scaled necks. Trandoshans.

"Much prey in these forests." One of them said. "Scorekeeper will watch us."

"I found tracks of smart-meat, here!" another one of them said, pointing at Xaffaj's boot print.

"Haar'chak…" he swore. "Damn offworlders…"

"Ah," one Trandoshan said, "Scorekeeper will reward us many Jaggannath for these men…" He bent down and used his long scaly snout to sniff the tracks like a dog gathering a scent. "They did not go far…"

Xaffaj reached down and grabbed his blaster pistol, holding it firmly, waiting for the lizard-men to get closer. Kelann readied her rifle and took aim down the scope of her blaster. Xaffaj had seen Trandoshans before, but he had also seen them fight; a fight that he would much rather avoid. As the hunters grew closer and closer their breathing – like the sound of crackly snoring – became more and more clear.

Kelann breathed and then exhaled slowly, before pulling the trigger on her rifle. A single red blaster bolt lit up the trees with crimson light and cut through the silence with an echoing sound. The bolt hit one of the silhouettes in the head and the shadow fell to the ground, silently. The two other reptilians began to search around frantically for the two men hunting them.

"Show yourselves, Cowards!" one of them hissed. Xaffaj jumped up with his blaster held forward.

"Right here, Scale-lips!" Xaffaj said as he let off three shots. One of the green bolts made contact with the Trandoshan's arm, but the lizard-man mostly shrugged it off before firing with his rifle in retaliation. More blaster bolts flew by as Xaffaj took cover behind the thick tree beside him. Shots of heated plasma hit the bark of the tree, leaving black marks centered with light burning embers. Kelann shot again, but just barely missed its head, causing the Trandoshan to turn and begin firing wildly into the grass and brush around her. She rolled to the side and then stood up behind a tree adjacent to Xaffaj. The Trandoshans chased the two hunters through the thickest parts of the pitch black jungle, until Xaffaj once again ducked behind another tree. He breathed easy as he thought that they had lost them.

Xaffaj had naught any time to react when one of their assailants jumped around the tree and lunged at him with claws barred. Xaffaj went to grab his vibroblade, but he soon realized that there was no need to.

From out of the shadows leapt a huge pair of red scale-covered jaws. The beast clamped its teeth down onto the Trandoshan, ripping his armor and piercing the flesh beneath his scales. An Akk Dog. The victim of its ginormous bite cried for help as the beast thrashed about. His ally instantly ran to his aid, but the repto-mammal jumped forward, crushing the seven foot tall Trandoshan with its front claws. Xaffaj was not about to leave himself out of the fight, even if the beast was twice his size. He drew his vibroblade and ran forward, sinking the sword into a gap in the creature's scales on its rump. The creature cried out a rattling screech and then began to thrash around more, aimed at Xaffaj.

The creature's tail eluded the boy's attention, and now it was too late to react. The Akk Dog (not actually resembling a dog at all) whipped its tail at Xaffaj, whom tried to avoid it. Unfortunately the sharp end of its tail missed his nose, but pierced straight through his right eye, yanking it from its socket with its barb-like scales and splattering blood down the side of his face. Xaffaj screamed and stumbled back with the blade still in his hands, tripping over a log and tumbling down a hill that they had never even known was behind them because of how dark everything was.

Kelann screamed his name as she ran down the hill after him. Closing his missing eye socket as tightly as he could, he continued to fall, flipping head over heel down the steep hill. The falling almost felt like it would never end for him, until he hit a log at the bottom and then everything went dark.

Sunlight stung at his slowly opening eye – the one that was left. Xaffaj now knew that he was still alive, and it was morning. Kelann must have wrapped his eye in gauze as well, because he could feel the pressure of the wrapping around his head. He went to sit up but felt some one's arm weighing him down, Kelann's arm. He looked around to see that they were on a blanket that she had set down beside some medical supplies. Kelann was snuggled up especially close to him with her body half lying upon his, regardless of how much room there was left on the blanket.

Kelann's eyes gradually opened to contact Xaffaj's single eye. The both of them came across like they wanted to look away from one another, but their gaze continued to connect. Xaffaj quickly shrugged her off and held the right side of his face as the both of them sat up.

"Do you know where it went…?" Xaffaj said softly. Kelann appeared clueless.

"… What?"

"The Akk Dog!?" he reminded her, raising his voice. She stared at him with tight lips for a time, and then sighed.

"It's a big animal. We'll be able to track the trail of blood and ruin, for days if need be."

Xaffaj began profaning in Mando'a under his breath as he slowly rose to his feet and grabbed his weapons off of the ground. Kelann just watched as her partner began to prepare the hunt anew with far more determination than he had previously shown. He stopped and turned around to look at his hunting partner.

"Are you gonna' help?" he said before packing up their supplies. Kelann stood up and grabbed her weapons, without a word. Xaffaj glanced around until he saw where the hill was that he had fallen from. He pointed toward it.

"Let's hunt." He said.

"Oya…" Kelann agreed.

11 ATC, Nar Shaddaa…

On a darkened rooftop in between the nook of two buildings Xaffaj dug the heel of his foot into the neck of a Rodian bounty that he had given chase to. The bounty hunter's feet were metal from the knee down, not flesh and bone, but more like that of a droid. He flexed the artificial parts of his lower legs as he pushed harder down with his two-pronged foot.

The Rodian begged for the Mandalorian's pity on him, but that didn't seem to slow down the rate at which he was losing breath. Xaffaj released his victim for but a second before he grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against the wall of the other building, pinning him there helplessly. The Rodian struggled for a release as Xaffaj wound up his fist. The Mandalorian continuously whaled on the victim until his gloved hands were coated in blood.

"Now," he said through his helmet, "Will you tell me where to find your contact?"

The Rodian spoke a rudely worded Huttese sentence through his stocky mouth.

"Oh well…" he punched the man again, further mangling his face.

"Xaf!" Kelann said with her helmet in one hand and a holocommunicator in the other. Xaffaj dropped the man to the ground and walked over to his spouse with his feet clacking metallically against the roof of the building. She pushed the button on the holocom and a pre-recorded message began playing.

The image of a robed man appeared with his hands gently folded one over the other. A Jedi perhaps.

"Xaffaj, one of the conquerors of Corellia, Disgracer of Hutts and the Champion of Mandalore, I would bargain for your esteemed services. Meet me at the marked coordinates and we may discuss business." The message had ended as abruptly as it had begun. Xaffaj looked over at the unconscious man on the ground.

"Tell him that we'll be there within the hour…" Xaffaj said.