Ahsoka POV

'Is the guard really necessary?' Even when surrounded by 4 Clone Commando's and standing before the Master Chief himself, Bo Katan still held herself with pride.

'If you think I would make the mistake of trusting that the second-in-command of Death Watch would so easily turn on Vizsla then you are mistaken.' The Chief was stood looking out into Hyperspace. As soon as the Death Watch remnants, that had sided with the 501st fleet, had gathered the Chief had us begin the journey to Mandalore. Just before the jump, however, he had received a request for the Death Watch officers that had sided with him to be allowed aboard the Xiphos. The fact that Bo Katan was with them had been a surprise to us all.

I was keeping myself off to the side with Rex. It was good to see him again after so long. The Chief ordered me to the command centre as soon as I had set foot on the ship, not even giving me time to say hello to Barriss. I'll just have to go see her later. For now, I had to keep out of Bo Katan's way.

'Why are you here?' The Chief hadn't bothered to turn to address her, an insult to be sure, and Bo Katan didn't look to be willing to answer until he did. To turn your back on someone, in Mandalorian culture, meant you trusted them. To turn your back on an enemy meant you didn't believe they could defeat you, even when you couldn't see them coming. Of course, Bo Katan couldn't hurt the Chief even with his back turned, what with the horde of clones between the two, the Chief's armour and his own skills, but it was still an insult, no matter how true.

'What, not gonna torture me in front of the others, or are you after a more private session?' The clones rippled in displeasure. Many had stopped what they were doing and had their fists clenched at their sides. Their loyalty to their commander was unquestioning. They didn't take too kindly to Bo Katan's insinuation that he would rape her. The Chief didn't react, either not understanding the insult or not caring.

'Answer the question and we can be done sooner.' Bo Katan just snorted.

'I've come here to help you, obviously, but that's not what you're really asking is it? You're asking why I would betray Pre. Well, once I saw something in him, a drive, a desire, that could reignite the flame that once burned brightly within all Mandalorians. I wanted to see the return of the old ways, to reclaim our heritage, and I thought Death Watch was the way to do it.

'After the whole Senate debacle that ousted Satine and brought Hood into power, well, Death Watch wasn't the only option anymore. Mandalore was uniting and returning to the old ways and it was Death Watch that was stuck on the outside. We soon turned from liberators to invaders. Pre refused to back down, no matter who tried to convince him otherwise. With Hood restoring our culture many of the Death Watch clans felt we had achieved our goal. Sure Hood only rearmed to fight us but we got what we wanted, the old ways back. But Pre would never be happy, not until he was Mandalore, and Hood would never have given it to him.

'I signed up to save our people, not conquer them.' The Chief gave a nod and ordered the Commandos to take her back to the others within the holding cells. He was being very cautious around Death Watch despite having invited them to join him.

'Which one were you?' What? The sudden change in topic had also attracted the Chief attention. He finally turned to face her.

'Pardon?'

'Which of the 75 were you?' The only indication of the Chief's surprise was the twitch of a hand, no more than a second, but I doubt Bo Katan missed it, not if that smirk was any indication.

'I don't…' She interrupted.

'You do. Did Halsey really think no one would realise? Granted we only found out due to some lucky coincidences, but we found out all the same.

'See, after remembering something about a brilliant scientist having a massive falling out with their clan I did some digging and found mentions of a Dr Catherine Halsey and her rather radical views on the Mandalorians. I brought her to Pre's attention and he agreed with me, she would make a great addition to Death Watch. So, we looked to recruit her. It took a while but we found her, about 8 years ago now. She rejected our offer readily, with some choice words about Death Watchs inadequacies, and Pre's.

'Originally, upon hearing about her views on Mandalorian development, we thought Halsey was talking about how Mandalorians were forgetting who they were, forgetting the old ways. We thought she had, somehow, predicted Satines and the New Mandalorians rise to power. We were only partly right.

'It was during that meeting, where we tried to recruit her, that we found out that when she meant, she meant as a people. Not just culturally but physically too, in every area, Mandalore was lacking.

'Next, we start hearing rumours about an elite group of Mandalorians calling themselves Spartans. We did our research then as well, found out about the original clan and Malachor V, but nothing about this new group. The only consistent rumour was that you need to make your interest in hiring them known and then they would contact you for information about the job. We made our interest known, but you never came. Then we hear tell of you working for Mother Whisper, Halsey's criminal moniker. That's when we started to dig deeper.

'We knew about Halsey's desire to create the best Mandalorians she could, and now she had a group at her disposal that were leagues ahead of any other Mando in the galaxy. We didn't think it a coincidence. Then we found out about the tests. A government sanctioned health test in the Mandalorian sector that isn't on any official reports. Suspicious. What's even more suspicious is that 75 of the 150 flagged six year olds died. No one else, younger or older, died to this mysterious disease, just 75 six year olds. Considering the supposed age of this new Spartan group and the time passed since those 75 supposed deaths, well, it wasn't hard to put it together.

'So, which one were you?' The Chief said nothing, opting instead to stare down Bo Katan. He then gave the Commando's a quick thrust of his chin, a signal to get moving. They dragged Bo Katan out of Command in silence. I was still reeling from it all. I might have even missed the long glare the Valkyrie leader spared for me if I wasn't looking right at her. I wasn't looking forward to meeting her face to face again.

While people had questioned the origins of the Spartans no one actually knew the truth, except for Halsey and some of the Cuy'val Dar. I doubt even the Chancellor knew the whole truth. Looking around the Command Centre showed not even the clones knew everything and they had grown up with the Spartans, trained with them.

The clones had been raised alongside the Spartans! Making the Chief…

By the Force. He was barely older than me. The Clone Wars had been going on for nearly 2 years now, add on 10 years of training that started at the age of 6 and the Spartans were about 18 years old. They were barely legal adults.

Granted the Republic had a very loose definition of legal adult, what with different systems having different ages limits. Naboo was 16, Duro was 22 and Mandalore was 9, for example. All the same, most Republic planets averaged out at 18. To know that the most feared warrior and commander in the Clone Wars could be ID check and not be allowed to purchase alcohol was fucking mind bending.

'So… You were…' I didn't get any further before the Chief angled his helmet towards me. With a full visor, it was hard to tell where he was looking but you felt his gaze all the same. 'Never mention this again? Got it.' Yeah. I wasn't gonna bring up a subject that could potentially piss of the galaxies only group of super soldiers. I was reckless, not stupid.

'Get back to work.' The calm tones of the Chief's orders were a surprise. No anger or frustration had entered his tone. Still, no one moved. A quick glance from the Spartan was enough to send Rex scrambling to get things back on track. The Chief just resumed staring out of the window.

I decided that now would be a good time to slip out to go see Barriss. Pretending to be a Mandalorian these past 2 months had been very mentally draining and having another Jedi would do wonders to recentre myself. Joint meditation would go a long way to helping me reacclimatise. The chief stopped me just as I was leaving.

'Commander. Be back before we exit hyperspace. You'll be commanding the Death Watch ships while Yularen will take command of my fleet.' I looked back at the Chief but he hadn't moved so I gave a quick yes sir and took off.

Ryloth had been my last big command. Master Obi-Wan had mostly been giving me command of smaller forces on the ground and leaving command of the fleet to Admiral Gentis. He was a good and loyal man who took good care of his men. A bit standoffish and not very approachable due to his air of superiority but that was something you could look passed due to his compassion and skill, and his arrogance wasn't exactly unwarranted.

Shaking off thoughts of my Master and legion, I focused on the task at hand. Tracking down my friend.


Barriss POV

I had just finished up my rounds in the med bay. Carlac had been the quickest battle I had seen during this war and had few casualties on our side, a few scraps and burns here and there with the occasional dead trooper turning up, but then it was only the first battle in the Mandalorian campaign. Still, every time I saw a trooper in blue and white armour lying on one of the beds all I could think about was the first time I saw an injured member of the 501st. Geonosis.

Nothing had prepared me for what it was actually like. Master Unduli had me read everything we had on the Geonosians before we landed on the planet so I knew some of what was to come, but nothing can prepare you for the real thing. The cries and screams as men were eaten alive, the pain of those affected by the White Phosphorus, the reanimated corpses of dead troopers, I relive it all, every time I close my eyes. It didn't matter if I was asleep or awake, if it was only for a second or for hours at a time. Every time I close my eyes I relive it all.

After I finished my shift I hurried back to my quarters. I dreaded going to my quarters, if I wasn't a Jedi I would even have said I hated it, for one simple reason. It was where I went to cry. As soon as I entered the room and the door shut I did the same thing I always do after finishing up in medical, I crumpled to the floor and cried. I shook and spasmed as control over my body left me, leaving me trapped in my own mind. The horrors I had seen all came at once, piling on, wave after wave.

I knew what this was, I am a trained medic, but I never went to get help for my depression. I deserve to suffer through it. Why? Because I'm a Jedi, and we all deserve to suffer.

I never turned on the lights in my room, the horror in my mind took strength from the darkness and I needed to maximise my suffering. I was even beginning to feel physical pain as my mind now started to torture my body too. I, along with every Jedi above the rank of Padawan, deserved to feel pain.

The Jedi proudly called themselves the Keepers of the Peace and the Protectors of the Innocent. It was the biggest load of Bantha crap in the galaxy. We weren't the Keepers of the Peace, we were the soldiers who brought conflict and war everywhere we went. We didn't Protect the Innocent, if anything we brought war to those who had nothing to do with the Republic or the Separatists. We were hypocrites of the highest order and deserve to suffer for it.

Now, despite how I feel about the Jedi, that we are just feeding the cycle of war, I don't despise soldiers or their generals. In fact, I was on good terms with many of the 501st and the Master Chief himself. He would even sometimes take the time to come and see me and make sure I was okay.

I knew he was ruthless and that he had no problem killing innocent people, but he didn't do so and then have the gall to call himself a 'Protector of the Innocent' afterwards. Not like the Jedi did.

He held no illusions of who and what he was, he embraced it. The Jedi, on the other hand, tried to hide it, bury it under flowery words and misleading actions. Besides, he was ruthless, not because he didn't care about the enemy, but because he cared so much for his men.

His ruthlessness stemmed from compassion, the trait that the Jedi liked to tell everyone they had in abundance. He tried to save as many people as he could but, at the end of the day, he cared more about his brothers then he did anyone else and would sacrifice others over them any day. I really looked up to him.

The Jedi, on the other hand, did things just as bad as, sometimes worse than, the Master Chief even before the Clone Wars began. And then they have the nerve to turn around and say the Master Chief is dangerous and that I need to spy on him for the Council. The Jedi were a blight on the galaxy that had to be removed. One only had to look at Ahsoka to see the Jedi's corruption.

I held nothing against Ahsoka, she was a very dear friend to me, but she exemplified everything wrong with the Jedi, though that was no fault of her own. Ahsoka was a good person and a great warrior, but a poor Jedi. She would have made a better Mandalorian then anything, but the Jedi council lauded her as an example that all Jedi should follow. They threw her onto the battlefield at a young age and taught her how to be a good soldier and wage war, not how to resolve conflict without violence and with words. She was a symptom, the Council were the disease.

If the Jedi truly cared about peace and nonviolent solutions they would have exiled Ahsoka already as she failed to show many of the traits the Council said made a Jedi what they were. Would it have hurt Ahsoka to have been exiled? Yes, but she would find greater happiness elsewhere in the galaxy than with the Jedi.

Skywalker was another one. He shot at his own men and was praised as a hero by the Republic and the Jedi. The worst part, he wasn't alone.

I knew many Jedi who showed no care or compassion for their clone troopers, sometimes even outright hostility. They sent these loyal and blindly obedient men marching to their deaths even when they could have made better strategies that could have saved their lives simply because they don't like the clones. That's why the Jedi deserved to be punished. That's why I willingly, gladly, tortured myself with the horror I've seen. I would go further if I didn't need to be physically fit to do my job, the only chance of redemption I had. But then, a few cuts here and there didn't stop me from doing my job, and who would even notice or care anyway?

The Chief might, he didn't want those he cared about hurting needlessly, but as soon as I explain why I deserve this, deserve all this pain, then he would let me continue, maybe even help me. I felt a shiver of glee run down my spine. The Master Chief helping me atone for my sins as a Jedi would really help. Perhaps he could then help the other atone too.

It was long before I regained control of my body, the depression episode coming to a close. Once I could stand up without falling over I wobbled over to my clothing draws. I fell onto the cabinet, using it to help keep me upright, and rifled through my underwear drawer for my knife.

I had stolen it some months back but never had the courage to use it, not until now. I took the knife and went over to sit on my bunk. Holding the blade was actually making me nervous, making me hesitate. No. No, I had to do, I couldn't stop now. I deserved this.

I rolled up my sleeve and put the knife to my wrist. I knew that the best way to kill myself would be to cut lengthways down my arm, but I wasn't trying to kill myself. No, I didn't deserve the escape that death would give me, so I cut across my arm, starting at the wrist. It hurt, just like I needed it to. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. I was halfway through number 6 when my door chimed.

I jumped in fright. Looking at the knife in my hand and my bleeding arm I started to panic. 'Gi-give me a minute.' I was starting to hyperventilate when autopilot took over. I rushed into the fresher and set it to sonic. After whacking it on full and sticking my arm and the knife under it for a bit I rushed back into my room. I pulled out the drawer and threw the knife in, not even taking care to hide it under anything. I then pulled out one of my older shirts and ripped off a sleeve, which I then used to hastily wrap around my wrist. I pulled down my sleeve and then rushed to the door, where I took a second to pat down any wrinkles.

'A-Ahsoka?' What was she doing here? The last I heard was she was having some private study at the Jedi temple, at least that's what Master Kenobi told me after calling him when Ahsoka wouldn't answer her comm.

I barely had time to take in the fact that Ahsoka's new Mandalorian armour was very flattering to her figure before she crushed me in a hug.

'I've missed you.' When she let up I was able to hug Ahsoka back. It was good to see her again after so long. I invited her in and her first move was to turn on the light. That really unsettled me. It almost felt like the light would reveal all the dark and terrible things that had stained this room. It had really set me on edge, not that I could let that show with Ahsoka here.

I was sure I came off as a little distant when we were catching up but my mind was constantly being drawn to the creeping shadows. I don't know how Ahsoka couldn't see them, they were bleeding in through the carpet. I was using all the concentration I had to not react and wasn't paying any mind to Ahsoka or what she was saying.

'Are you okay?' I jolted.

'P-pardon?' Ahsoka was looking very concerned. Seeing her in Mandalorian armour, without her lightsabers, looking so concerned was making me very self conscious. It reminded me a lot of the Master Chief's concern in how genuine it was. It would be a lot easier to tell if she was faking it like the Jedi taught her too or if she was truly asking if I was okay if she didn't remind me so much of the Chief.

'You don't look so good. You're a bit pale and I don't think you've been listening at all today.'

'S-s-sorry. I just got off my shift at the med bay and I'm feeling tired is all.' I couldn't tell her the truth. I didn't know yet, was she more Jedi or more Mandalorian? I would have to keep an eye on her, found out for myself.

Ahsoka brushed off my excuse, understanding how hard the military life can be. Instead, she turned to the second reason she came to find, other than to catch up, meditation. That could work.

I settled myself in a meditation stance on the floor and Ahsoka moved across from me. I first started reaching out to Ahsoka, helping to get her to recentre herself quicker, before gently pulling away. As I pulled away I began to observe her. Jedi all have a certain feel about them, a general feeling unique to each person that can be used to identify affinities, if one was skilled enough at sensing Auras.

It was hard to describe what feeling a Force Aura felt like. The best way to put it would be feeling a colour. Most Jedi felt either blue or green. The reasoning was that the Force aligns itself differently inside of each person. A light side Force user and a dark side Force user may have the same coloured feel to them but one would be a lighter shade and the other a darker shade, two guesses for which shade matches which alignment and the first guess doesn't count.

Still, it wasn't a flawless system as sometimes a person can feel dark and sometimes they can feel light, it depends on their emotional state at the time. The only consistent thing was the colour of a person's Aura. Ahsoka, for example, should, no matter how deeply she delves into the dark side of the Force, always feel green. She didn't.

Ahsoka didn't feel green, she felt… I don't know. The best description would be an absence of colour, like there had been one there but it had been washed away. No. More like it had been coloured over so many times, in so many different colours, that it wasn't a colour anymore. It felt like a shadow.

I stopped my meditation.

'Ahsoka, do you have your lightsabers?' I had startled the girl out of her meditation but she replied quickly, though was confused why I asked. After asking to see them that confusion only grew. She handed them over and, after a quick few turns of them in my hands, I ignited them. Twin black beams shot from the hilts, a shadowy darkness encased in a field of white.

This confirmed my suspicions, and my hopes. There was only one other black blade in existence, and that blade had belonged to a Mandalorian who had been inducted into the Jedi order. Tarre Vizsla.

To understand why his blade was black one first needed to know about Force Crystals. Force Crystals are actually a Force infused gem, usually Kaiburr or Rubat, that were used by the Jedi order as the heart of their lightsabers. These crystals all started out blue but changed their colour to their wielders alignment, due to the pair spending close proximity to each other. The only exceptions were the blades of the Sith. No one knew how they made their lightsabers red as no had ever had a red alignment, just different levels of darkness. Even less was know about Tarre's black crystal.

Seeing this new colour was all I needed to decide. Ahsoka was a Mandalorian. She had escaped the influence of the Jedi Council. I was relieved. Ahsoka had spent the past 2 months embracing what it meant to be Mandalorian and her Crystal had attuned itself to that. The only question was why it had turned so fast, it normally took anywhere from 6 months to a year, but that could be explained away by the Crystal leeching the Force alignment colour of the Death Watch members Ahsoka had been with. Just because they were weak with the Force didn't mean they weren't a part of it or that they couldn't influence a Crystal's alignment.

I handed back the sabers.

'Barriss… I…' I stopped her.

'I won't tell anyone. I swear. No one can know.' That seemed to help a bit.

'But what about the Council. You could sense it in me, if you can they can and then they will want to see my sabers t..' I cut her off again.

'We'll find a way.'

'But…'

'We'll find a way. They will never know. Not if I can help it. And if they do, I will be with you to the end, whatever that end may be.' Tears began to well in her eyes before she launched herself at me.

'Thank you.' She was well and truly crying now and I was willing to give her all the comfort she needed. I meant what I said, I will be with her to the very end. Even if it meant expulsion from the Order, even if it meant death. I would always pick Ahsoka over the Jedi. She was the only thing in this galaxy that held any meaning to me.

After her tears had dried Ahsoka climbed to her feet and dragged me with her. She was going to head back to her room so I followed her to the door, planning to see her off, but she stopped just before getting there.

Ahsoka spun on her heel, planted a brief and gentle kiss on my check, spun round again, opened the door and was off down the corridor before my mind had even registered that the kiss had even happened in the first place.

I rushed to the door and looked down the corridor, only to see her speeding figure turn the corner at the end.

'Goodbye.' I whispered.

After briefly gliding a few of my fingers over where she had just kissed, I entered my room. I was glad to see Ahsoka again, it brought me a lot of clarity in these dark times. To see my doubts about her wash away was the good news that I had been hoping for. It had also strengthened my resolve.

The Jedi were a blight on the galaxy, they were wrong and they were training the next generation of Jedi to be warriors, not peacekeepers. They all needed to be removed from the galaxy to be safe.

I walked back to the draw, I took back the knife and I began cutting.


Bo Katan POV

The shove these clones gave caused me to stumble into my cell. They weren't aggressive or abusive but there was a roughness to them. Still, it was nothing I couldn't handle. After all, I doubt Death Watch or any Mandalorian clan would be any different with their prisoners.

'Find out anything?' Vercopaala was a good man, though often too eager to see the good in others. He was steadfast and dedicated to the cause, one of the earliest recruits, but was sometimes too naive.

When Vizsla reformed the Death Watch Vercopaala was one of the first to truly believe in Pre's vision and dedicated himself wholly to the cause. This loyalty saw him soaring through the ranks and gathering together his own loyal followers. When he sided with the Chief he brought over a lot of the men left over from the 501st's attack. When I saw him so easily accept the Chief, to be the first to declare his allegiance to him despite having just seen him brutally execute our men, I knew we had lost.

Carlac held the only Death Watch troopers not on Concordia. We had been on our way back from Onderon when Pre redirected us to Carlac, having found out that our mole was relaying information only known by those who had been on Onderon. We knew the spy was in our midsts and feed the men false information to have it filter back to Hood do Pre could make a successful assault on Mandalore, but we were still needed.

With the Onderon Beast Riders, their beasts, a Death Watch legion and a division of Valkyries we were a large force. Without us, Death Watch barely had enough men to take Mandalore, and that's including the Separatist droids, but we would never be able to hold the planet. The Reclaimers would round up the remains of Hoods army and lead their own assault and instil their own choice of Mandalore. Without us, Death Watch had already lost, Vizsla just didn't know it yet. It wouldn't matter if he killed Hood, it wouldn't even matter if he managed to enter the Sundari Palace and sit on the Throne of the Mandalore. He didn't have the manpower, not with the people still against him, not while there was a chance he could lose.

Vercopaala took a lot of men with him when he switched sides, men Death Watch desperately needed.

'Nothing we didn't already know. All he wanted to know was why I joined his side instead of heading back to Pre. He refused to say anything about a plan of attack.' No doubt Vercopaala was annoyed that he didn't know what was going on but, as I said, he was the trusting sort. If the Chief wouldn't tell him the plan he would trust that the man had a reason for doing so.

That put him at odds with two others in the cell. Dema and A'den were two of Death Watch's biggest supporters. They had been a part of the first iteration under Pre's father Tor and had been very outspoken protesters during Satines rise to power. It had taken a lot to convince them to join up again and Pre had to prove over and over that he was as capable as his father once was. Not that these two had any trouble finding faults. Even after convincing them to join they just picked apart Pre's every action, constantly comparing him to his father. Still, they would never betray Death Watch, for Tor if not Pre. Which is why I knew they were here for only one reason. Sabotage.

'What did you expect? He locked us up as soon as we entered the ship.' Dema gave a short, dismissive huff.

'For good reason.' I gave him a pointed look. I knew what they were here for even if Vercopaala didn't. Again, too trusting. I knew that the only reason most of the rest of the Carlac remnants joined the 501st's assault was because Dema and A'den convinced them to join up so they could attack them from behind. The only ones who didn't join us were those who wanted to live a quiet life, having enough of all this fighting, or those whose honour wouldn't allow them to engage in such deception.

'So… Is he Mandalorian?' I turned to Kandosii'la.

'Yes.' That brought mixed reactions, as was expected. Most of the officers were pleased to hear this, believing it to be confirmation they had chosen the right side, while Dema, A'den and Kandosii'la bristled. They had been hoping that he was just some random kid that had undergone the Spartan Program, or whatever Halsey had named it, but no, he was one of the many Mandalorian children that had been taken.

The trio had been hoping to use the fact that Clan Spartan isn't an officially recognised clan, the fact that the Clan Hardeen aliit hadn't been notified of any adoptions by Halsey and the fact that the Master Chief wasn't Mandalorian born to turn the people against him. To turn all of the negative attention away from Death Watch and onto the Republic. If they could prove that the Chief wasn't an official recognised Mandalorian by anyone but the Chancellor then they might have been able to discredit both and push the Mandalorian people into accepting Pre as the true Mandalore by presenting him as their saviour from the machinations of the Republic.

'He lives up to his name, I'll tell you that.' Confusion spread through the men. I will admit, it took me a while. He really didn't give much away but, in the end, that had been the biggest clue of them all.

Mandalorians were a very practical people, doubly so when naming things. Usually, parents hold off on naming their child before they reached about 4 years of age unless they had a very strong personality trait. It wasn't uncommon to give a child a temporary name, or a name for what you hope they would become. A'den was named because he was aggressive, a'den meaning aggressive, Dema was named after the word Demagolka, meaning monster. Turns out even his parents thought he was a piece of shit. Kandosii'la was named after the word for amazing as it was the closest translation to the meaning of the name Miranda.

'Shev'la Vizsla.' The ripple of confusion turned into… I don't know what, but it set people on edge.

We had been keeping tabs on as much Spartan activity as we could get our hands on over these past several years, looking for any weakness. I had to hand it to her, Halsey sure knew how to make a soldier. They were all brutal and efficient, though some stood above the rest, but away from the fight they all seemed to have their own unique personalities.

The Chief was an imposing figure, that could relate to a number of names on the list, but his most defining characteristic is the fact that he can say so much without having to say a word. Shev'la, meaning silent, was a very fitting name for the man.

The main problem was the fact he was originally of House Vizsla. House Vizsla gave up its seat on the House Council to follow Pre, and a lot of the Clans under House Vizsla's protection came with us when Pre was revealed as the leader of Death Watch. If it came down to a fight between Shev'la and Pre and Shev'la won then he would become the aliit of House Vizsla too. A lot of Clans had stayed loyal to their House. All those here who still clung on to the hope that Death Watch would still survive to fight again even if Pre lost knew that it would become nearly impossible if the Clans swore allegiance to their House's new aliit.

'Don't go spreading that around.' I spun on my heel.

At the entrance to the cell, on the other side of the force field stood a woman with blue hair, blue lips and blue eyes. Cortana Halsey. She typed in the passcode to drop the forcefield and stepped into the cell with us, a Commando trooper taking the spot she just left. I had to admit, at least she had the brass balls to believe that nothing would happen to her.

'Anyway, he prefers John now.' John?

'As in Favoured?! I can see it, he is Halsey and the Chancellor's favourite, though I say Shev'la suites him better.' Cortana gave a snort.

'You're partly right. John actually means Favoured by the Gods. You see, John, and the rest of the Spartans, all believe in the Gods of Old, Kad Ha'rangir, Arasuum and Hod Ha'ran. And, most importantly, the clones believe in them too.'

'And why is it more important that the clones believe in these Gods?' The girl gave a smirk.

' 'cus if they didn't then who would believe that the Spartans are the Children of Kad Ha'rangir and that John is his Chosen?.' She couldn't be serious. The clone army was religious?! And they followed the Spartans because, what, they thought they were in some kind of holy war?!

'There's no such thing as Gods, and any who believe in them are fooling themselves.' A'den seem particularly offended by the notion that people who dared to call themselves Mandalorian would dare to worship a deity, never mind that it was a Mandalorian one.

'Funny. I didn't expect an original member of Death Watch to refute the Gods existence, A'den of Clan Saxon. You were there for Tor Vizsla's speech at the creation of Death Watch, weren't you? You must have read the original Death Watch manifesto. I must be misremembering things because I thought he mentioned Hod Ha'ran in them.' A'den bristled in anger, not taking too kindly to being talked down to by a little girl. Her mocking smirk probably didn't help. 'But, we're getting off topic. I'm here to relay to you your orders for the coming battle.' Cortana kept A'den in her sights but her gaze had hardened to a point.

'No matter your reasons for being here, you have all been given a second chance. I suggest you remember that before you do anything foolish. As I am sure you are aware, Death Watch is finished, it is only a question of when, and that John, the Master Chief, will rise to power as the next Mandalore. Now, that is fact. You don't have to like it, but it is fact. Decide now which side you are on.' A'den and Dema both shifted uncomfortably.

'Tomorrow, the 501st fleet will arrive into the space surrounding the planet of Mandalore and it will destroy any and all Death Watch ships above said planet. The Death Watch forces that have sided with us, that will be henceforth referred to as the Turned, will assist the fleet in mopping up the Death Watch remnants.

'Meanwhile, the Master Chief will be taking the 501st Legion planetside to deal with all of the Death Watch ground forces. The Turned will, once clean up is complete, head down to assist the Chief, once again, in cleaning up all Death Watch remnants.

'Your commanding officer for this mission will be Commander Ahsoka Tano or, as you may know her, Mira Keveer.' Mira!

Mira had been an exceptional student and addition to the Valkyrie forces during her time with us. I had personally invested a lot of time and effort into that girl and, most importantly of all, a lot of trust too. I had entertained the idea that she may have been our mole but it had been a brief, fleeting, thought. To know that she was really a Jetii, our ancient enemy, just made my blood boil. When I saw her standing near to the Master Chief on his bridge it took everything I had to ignore her.

If only Kandosii'la had the same restraint.

'Mira?! Mira was the traitor? That BITCH! When I get my hands on her I will tear her to pieces.' Kandosii'la had taken to the girl far more than I had. Perhaps it was their closeness in age or something else entirely, the fact of the matter was she had invested much into her. To have all of that taken and thrown back in her face, let's just say that it wasn't the nicest feeling in the galaxy. The fact Cortana gave her a dismissive snort didn't help matters.

Kandosii'la rounded on the girl in an instant. 'Got something to say?!' Cortana didn't even flinch, though I suspect it was less to do with her bravery and more that she's was used to seeing far more fearsome sites whenever a Spartan got mad.

'I'm curious, how can someone be a traitor when they don't betray the side to which they are loyal?

'Besides, I don't think its the fact that Commander Tano is a traitor that's got you so angry, is it Miranda?.' Kandosii'la ripped off her helmet and the sisters were finally face to face once again, after so many years.

'So you knew.'

'Mum's been keeping tabs on you, covering for you. She only told me a few minutes before I came down here. I can't believe you would betray dad like this.' Ouch. For as loyal as Kandosii'la was to Death Watch she loved her father. It seems both sisters had an axe to grind.

'That's rich coming from you.'

'I chose to live with our mother. That's not a betrayal, not like siding with dads enemy is.'

'She is not my mother.' Cortana's lip curled in disgust.

'So you won't even try to deny that you betrayed dad? We're done here.' Cortana turned to walk out of the cell. Kandosii'la wasn't done yet. She rushed after her sister.

'Wait…' The Commando that had shut off the forcefield for Cortana grabbed Kandosii'la before she could leave and threw her back into the cell. I barely had time to catch her. She gathered herself quickly and rushed back up to start pounding on the forcefield. 'So you're just gonna walk away again.'

Cortana stopped in her tracks. 'I went to live with mother, it was you who decided I had walked away and abandoned you. Just like it was you who decided to walk away and abandon dad. You've got one chance to make it right. Take it.' And that was that. No matter how hard Kandosii'la pounded or screamed her sister never came back to talk to her.

A few hours later Commander Tano came to the cell door. She took a moment to look at us all before punching in the code to drop the field. 'It's time. I hope you've made your choice and I hope it's the right one.' With that, she turned and walked away.

I turned to look at the faces behind me. Yeah, we'd all made our choice. It was unanimous. Sorry Pre, I promise I'll make it quick.