AN: This update was betaed by Fwee on the space battles forums. Thank you very much for the time and effort you put in clearing it up!
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or Worm. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not created with commercial purpose. I make no money from it.
Chapter 10
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Part 1
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Sundari
Mandalore
For the past half an hour, Wreav had been trying to figure out how he got roped into this. He was sure both his Sergeant and the LT had something to do with it, probably someone higher up on the chain of command as well. There was no other way to explain why they were allowed to borrow one of the palace's armoured air-cars and leave with it without anyone coming to ask questions, or more importantly, stop them.
At least someone was happy about this, he decided, and spared a glance at his charge – who was babbling about how odd it was for HK to be ordered to babysit someone. The kid was endearing in how oblivious she currently was – the Assassin droid had been looking after her for more than a year now and had taken her under his wing as a kind of apprentice. Then again, she was a young child, it was a given that they thought they knew better than anyone else, no matter what people told them…
Wreav rumbled quietly to get Sabine's attention and pointed a paw at the most intact building visible in the distance. That was their destination, the hotel holding their targets.
Just to be on the safe side, he subvocalized to command to make damn sure HK knew they were coming. He didn't want any misunderstandings, especially ones that might end up with someone's hide on fire, or worse, disintegrated. Especially if it was his fur that suffered.
They found their targets lounging on a terrace overlooking a nearby plaza where construction crews utilized a lot of heavy equipment to make the place presentable for the approaching celebrations. He personally couldn't see the appeal of watching something like that – unless it was combat engineers setting up fortifications or a proper killing ground, but to each their own, he guessed.
Wreav rumbled in displeasure when his charge tried to go visit her friend the express way…
"Just drive over, I'll jump!" Sabine bounced on her seat, barely able to keep herself in one place.
The Wookie left any pretence of civility aside for a moment and roared loud and clear, making sure Sabine knew that jumping out of a perfectly fine transport, one which wasn't on fire or under fire, was in no way acceptable, thank you very much. In response, the brat pouted at him while rubbing her left ear, but at least she stopped trying to open the bloody door…
What did he do to deserve this anyway?!
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A loud, angry roar echoed through the canyons of glass and metal that were Sundari streets.
"What the hell was that?!" Danny exclaimed, spilling some of his ale in surprise.
"A Wookie, angry one too." HK-117 explained. "I can make an educated guess about his identity and the reason for his anger." The droid added.
"Are you a thinker now?" Taylor asked, while warily looking around as if waiting for a monster to jump from somewhere.
"No, I just got a head's up from the palace. Someone, in their infinite wisdom, has let my Master's charge run around without adult supervision."
"He has a Wookie?" Taylor asked in disbelief.
"Said walking rug is a member of my Master's security detail." HK extrapolated, carefully keeping his voice civil. "How and why is he here, bringing my Master's adopted child, is anyone's guess. No one aware of it and on the network is talking." HK grumbled. This place was less than secure, and while he was confident he would be able to get his minion out of most possible altercations, the same wasn't true for the other two humans he was supposed to babysit. On the bright side, if something happened, he would get to shoot and blow up people – it had been all too long since his last fun assignment!
"You mean Mandalore's kid is coming here?!" Now it was time for the elder Hebert to sound disbelieving.
"Did I stutter?" HK politely inquired. Bloody meat-bags.
"Um, you didn't..." Taylor trailed off. "Why is she coming here?"
"A very good question, Ms Hebert. I'll be sure to ask her when she arrives." She was supposed to be at the palace after she returned from training, which wasn't supposed to happen for a few more hours yet. What was with meat-bags and disregard for proper schedules!? Some of them even did their best to be late for their own assassinations! It was simply not the done thing!
"I think we'd best get more presentable for such a visit." Mr Hebert concluded and got up.
"That might be for the best," The girl agreed.
"I doubt Sabine would care." HK concluded after scanning their clothes again – there was nothing really wrong with them, though they were all too practical and not colourful enough to pass muster in what some considered "proper" high society. Thankfully, there were very few such meat-bags left on the planet.
The doorbell rang, continuously, announcing that Sabine had been up to some shenanigans in order to reach the door this fast.
"I'll let them in before she manages to irritate everyone in the building." HK declared and headed for the entrance. While he had nothing against pissing off meat-bags and then murdering them all in novel and creative ways, everything had its time and place. Unfortunately, this wasn't it. It was times like these when he really regretted that they were the so-called good guys these days…
HK marched to the door, scanning the area for any unpleasant surprises. There were only two forms on the other side of the door – the short familiar one of Sabine, and the towering figure of the walking rug. He opened the door and glared at his charge, complete with glowing photoreceptors.
"What are you doing here?" HK demanded.
"Hi! It's nice to meet you too, it's been sooooo long!" Sabine bounced on the balls of her feet and rolled her eyes at him. Sarcasm dripped from her words too, a very hefty dose of it.
"Hi. It's not nice to see you here. Why are you in an unsecured location, when you're supposed to be still on your way back or safe and sound at the palace?" HK could play that game too, and spoke in his best dry and sarcastic tone as well.
"There's going to be a sandstorm tonight so they got us back earlier. There was no one interesting back home, I got bored and then figured out you were up to something, so here I am!" Sabine blurted out.
Yep. Bloody meat-bags. He would be having words with security the next time he was at the palace.
"Do get in." HK grumbled and moved from the door. He didn't fail to send a murderous look at the armoured Wookie towering above his charge. They were going to have words as well. "Introductions – those two," The Droid pointed at his current mission objectives, who just now entered the living room, "are the Heberts, Danny and Taylor." These," he waved at Sabine who wasted no time and bounced inside, "Are Sabine Wren, my primary charge, and the walking rug is Corporal Wreav, who wasn't supposed to let her get away from the palace with just him as an escort."
The Wookie rumbled in response, pointing out how close HK currently was and that it would be such a shame if something happened to his arms…
"Don't mind them, they're like that all the time." Sabine dismissed them both and went to stand in front of Taylor, peering up at the taller girl. "Hi, I'm Sabine Wren! What did you do to get uncle Veil interested in you two?"
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Part 2
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Sundari
Mandalore
Sabine Wren was an odd thing to experience, Taylor decided. The jury was still out on if it was a good or bad experience, though nonetheless it was going to be memorable anyway. The kid bounced all around the room, apparently unable to keep herself from staying in one place for more than a few seconds without exploding into action. Really, it was almost dazzling to watch her.
In all fairness, while the girl asked tons of questions, she turned out to be a priceless source of information as well – things that the Droid, HK, either didn't think about sharing or had been told not to. Taylor felt somewhat bad about using Sabine that way, though it wasn't like she didn't offer answers of her own when asked, even if she really didn't want to touch certain topics, like how she ended up in her current position…
It almost immediately became clear that Mandalore was radically different from Earth Bet in lot of aspects, yet oddly similar in others despite being literally an alien world. Take Sabine for example – she wanted to be a hero, just like Taylor did… it was just that around here being a hero apparently meant something very different, like the kid gleefully explained.
Sabine wanted to be a Mandalorian Warrior, complete with capital letters. She had just returned from ranger training in the desert as well, which simply boggled the mind.
"I'm wondering if what you mean by ranger training has anything to do with the ranger training I'm vaguely familiar with from my time in the navy." Dad added his two cents as well.
That was a mistake – Sabine perked up and spent the next half an hour excitedly blurting out how great and fun the torture disguised as training had been… Listening about survival in the desert, the best ways to lay down an ambush in the sand, or find water and shelter… Was this what people called culture clash, Taylor wondered?
Dad didn't help when his only comment was that 'It sounded about right...'. What exactly did he do in the navy anyway? She hadn't been particularly curious about that in the past…
It soon became clear that speaking with Sabine was like waddling through a minefield – hopefully that wasn't universal when talking with Mandalorians. It was really an innocent and logical question as well that make that point.
"Why did you want to do that anyway?" Taylor asked without thinking.
"Ranger training?" Sabine asked and received a nod in confirmation. "If I had been to it, it would have made the march out of Sundari much easier…" The kid muttered and all the boundless energy simply drained out of her and she collapsed in the nearest chair. "I had to walk out alone with one of the last evacuation waves, while the clankers pressed in trying to kill everything that moved." Sabine said with an empty eyes staring at something far away.
"What? Where were your parents?" Taylor blurted out, without even thinking, and struck mine number two.
Sabine blinked twice and looked away. "Dad was with the navy during the Death Watch's treason. His ship went down with all hands. Mother… She was Death Watch and vanished during the fighting for the capital."
Well, that explained a lot, though it raised tons of other questions… Dad raised both eyebrows at that answer, then glanced at HK. The Droid noticed and did provide some context.
"My Lady, Bo-Katan, was a former Death Watch member as well. She changed sides before said organization committed their treason, in fact, they did attempt to murder her as well as her sister and my Master as a part of the preparations for their attempt to seize power. Obviously, they were unsuccessful."
The Wookie roared in what Taylor assumed was a confirmation.
"Yep, that's aunt Bo!" Sabine perked up at hearing the name. "She's awesome! She taught me so much..." Sabine trailed off and the spark of excitement and happiness died in her eyes.
"You just wish it was your mother who did it, or the two of them together." That came from Dad.
"Yep." The kid sniffed.
The conversation had a decidedly awkward tone from that point on. On the plus side, at least Taylor understood why Sabine wanted to become a Mandalorian Warrior when she grew up – it wasn't just because it was a part of her culture, which was a big reason for it, obviously. It was how said warriors were perceived – they were the local heroes and protectors, the people who fought against impossible odds during the war, the same ones who followed Mandalore on battlefields all across the galaxy to ensure the enemy wouldn't triumph, and as crazy as it sounded, arrived like the proverbial cavalry by jumping from orbit during the end days of the Siege when the planet was about to fall.
On the other hand, while there were some similarities, what Sabine and most of the locals saw as heroes, were a far cry from the ideal Taylor believed in. Heroes were supposed to save people and stop villains, to bring the latter in to be imprisoned. Thinking about it, they were icons, ideals people were trying to live up to.
In contrast, what Sabine strived to be was a soldier, that was it – she wanted to keep her home safe, protect her family and destroy any and all threats to it. Taylor wasn't sure if the kid understood what that really meant, yet after the way she spoke about the war and walking out of this city… she probably had a better idea than most.