Author's Note: You would think having a five day weekend break from school would get me to quicken the uploading pace for my stories... NOPE! Instead I'm just busy grinding on Jedi: Fallen Order and Battlefront 2! Lol, I love wasting time on those games...

Happy to see all the excitement for the story only continuing to build! Really enjoy that, and I love working on this series. Something that I'm even more excited about is that the seventh season of The Clone Wars premieres about a month from now, and I'm hyped for that. They also just released a new trailer for it, and there are so many cool details in there. I even noticed a scene where the lines spoken come directly from Revenge of the Sith! I'm sure you guys can figure out which if you watch it. This also means there'll be one last return to that era for Jarik's story, and then it'll finally move on.

I still can't believe it's already been two years since I first started the series, and back then I was just doing a Clone Wars OC story lol. Now it's stretched to an entire universe full of so many different stories and characters, all interconnected to each other in some form.

Reviews:

C.E.W: Very insightful review, you continue to impress with them haha. Interesting idea with Bo-Katan, though I'm not fully sure how I'll handle that part yet. I don't have any plans to give Jarik Force healing abilities, simply because manipulating the Force isn't his gift—that's Ahsoka's. He uses the Force more directly in a more basic way. Powerful at his peak potential, but still generic. (Also yeah, you have suggested some pretty decent ideas and predicted other things lol, crazy. I have no problem in admitting that you and a few other people definitely know more about Mandalorian culture than I do :P)

Guest: Clan Ordo has a few tricks up their sleeve. Hadrian definitely endeavors to create the best devices he can for the clan's use. The Empire does have overwhelming numbers and military strength on their side though, and we all know Vader wants to get up close and personal with Jarik.

Ryry-24: My Destiny story is very far into the future, approximately 800 years after Jarik's time, so I don't have any plans of adding the Dragon Prince to it.

mastercheif1229: Still deciding what to do with her character, but I'm definitely leaning to some sort of family relationship to a previous character.

Mogor: Yup, lot's of trouble coming in.

Auguste the Clown: Glad you enjoyed it!

Alamout: Definitely a lot of dangerous creatures on Dxun that need to be looked out for. And the tomb itself will have a defense waiting for them.

Guest: Yeah, the Mandalorians are going to be very important for what's to come, something Jarik likely understands; he knows how strong they would be if they all fought for one cause. And perhaps Hadrian is the guy who made it, or at the very least the one who provided the materials for it.

Watchmen1985: Hmmmmm... lol.

Shanverise fan1: Glad you're still enjoying it! Lots of unknowns to look out for in these next couple of chapters for sure.

cousinxcaps: Hadn't thought about that, maybe at some point.

Jungle moon of Dxun - Japrael System

Jarik POV…

Our search party group left not too long after the challenge, departing into the jungle wilderness in the direction of Freedon Nadd's tomb. Mara, R5, myself, and the group of Mandalorians—consisting of my cousins, aunt and uncle, Shae Daneara, Logan Vurt, and Kayli Evhut—took a small shuttle to get there while Hiccup and Astrid followed along by riding Toothless, keeping a relatively good pace. We weren't going to be taking any ground transport for this simply because the landscape was too dense to move through, and the jungle is filled with all sorts of vicious predators.

Raman left his friend Jovani in a temporary leadership position while we were gone, trusting him the most to maintain a level headed rank of authority. He also seemed the most unsettled by the thought of the tomb, so I can only imagine he had some sort of experience with it in the past that wasn't pretty. Whatever dark side energy left behind from the ancient Sith Lord's presence must still have some sort of effect, so it'd be best for Mara and I to keep our guards up.

Logan piloted the shuttle while the rest of us mingled around, conversing idly with each other. I take notice of the fact that Crassus and Shae have some sort of relationship with each other, carrying feelings that I recognize all too well. Raman then moves up beside me, gaining my attention.

"There's something I'm a little confused about," he asks, giving me a cautious look. "Where's your partner?"

"My partner?" I ask, furrowing my brow.

"The togruta girl," he answers.

I blink in surprise, instantly realizing who he's referring too and look at him warily.

"You mean Ahsoka?" I say slowly. "How do you know about her?"

"From the war, when you were on Onderon," he explains, and I raise an eyebrow at him. "You never noticed, but Kayli and I were keeping tabs on the rebels there."

"Saw Gerrera said you guys never offered them help," I point out with a frown.

"We didn't," he admits with a nod. "At least not directly. But some of us kept our eyes out to plan our next move. I was one of the lookouts on duty when you and the other Jedi arrived."

"Huh," I remark with curiosity. "I imagine that upset you."

"Many of us. A few wanted to take you out," he admits apologetically. "But we stayed back. Either way, I kept an eye on some of the conflict and noticed that you and the other Jedi, Ahsoka, seemed to work very well together."

I nod my head in confirmation, and Raman takes notice of my glumness.

"I assume she died in the Purge?" he asks cautiously.

I let out a sad sigh and shake my head in response.

"No, she lived. We met up about a year later, and stayed together long afterwards, picking up Mara along the way," I tell him, making a face. "Then it all changed when the three of us, with two others, went looking for answers to try and find a way to defeat the Sith. But the Empire found us, and it wasn't much longer before Darth Vader arrived."

"The Emperor's Enforcer?" he asks. "I don't know much about him."

"He's a Sith Lord, and will stop at nothing to carry out Palpatine's will," I explain, looking down. "Ahsoka held him off just long enough for the rest of us to get away."

Raman's expression changes to one of surprise and sympathy, and he glances down for a moment before looking back at me.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he replies quietly.

"Thanks," I respond, giving him a small nod.

"Alright guys, we're approaching the tomb," Kayli announces, stepping out of the cockpit.

"Let's get ourselves loaded up. No idea what we'll find, but be ready for anything," Aathias advises.

"Hey, Jedi, you better let your friends outside know we're about to land!" Logan calls out from the cockpit.

"They'll be fine, they know to follow you," I reassure him.

"Let's just get this over with," Crassus grumbles, getting to his feet.

"Come on, don't be such a sourpuss," Shae scoffs, nudging his shoulder.

"Am I the only one who feels excited about this?" Kira asks cheerfully.

"I am," Mara comments.

R5 beeps his own response, prompting an exasperated eyeball from both me and her.

"Too bad, suck it up," I chide him.

"What'd he say?" Kira questions.

"He's afraid of getting chomped on by some predator," I say, giving him a look.

"You're not going to get eaten," Mara reassures him. "You're not even food."

R5 beeps a few angry responses back at us, his body shuddering in annoyance, but otherwise offers no more complaints besides grumbling to himself. The shuttle comes in for a a landing, and I shake my head in amusement at the droid's behavior before making my way towards the exit. The floor shudders violently for a second as we touch the ground and then stabilizes, the exit ramp soon opening right after.

The Mandalorians all take hold of their weapons in their holsters or shoulder straps and then put on their helmets, while Mara, R5 and I all moved outside. I immediately take note of the location, seeing that the shuttle landed on some sort of landing platform that leads straight towards the tomb. The structure itself is quite large, appearing as some sort of shrine with four statues along the walkway, and the end towering upwards in three tall spires. It was laid out on a flattened surface just a bit taller than the forest, and built right up against a mountain that covered it's back and left side. The structure was clearly old, made out of a very dark stone that was covered in moss and vines of all sorts, yet still relatively intact despite its age.

"This is a tomb?" Mara asks, scoffing. "Looks more like a palace!"

"Well, you know how the Sith feel about themselves," I hum in agreement.

As the rest of our group filters out of the shuttle, Toothless comes swooping in for a landing on the platform nearby, flapping his wings for stability and then touching down on the stone. Hiccup and Astrid both dismount while Toothless glances around curiously, and join us in gazing up at the structure.

"This thing is big," Astrid remarks in amazement. "When you said 'tomb,' I was expecting some sort of small cave in the ground or something."

"This was built nearly four thousands years ago to hold the body of Freedon Nadd, an ancient Onderon king who ruled for over a century, if the stories are accurate," Kayli explains.

"You know, it kind of reminds me a little bit of what we think the bifrost looks like: Asgard's rainbow bridge," Hiccup murmurs thoughtfully.

"Yeah… you're right," Astrid replies curiously.

"How do we expect to find the mask inside that?" Crassus asks, frowning. "Who knows how far back the interior goes!"

Raman frowns, turning to me questioningly.

"Does your holocron give any other clues?" he asks.

"I don't think so, nothing else came up..." I say slowly, pulling it out to look at.

I stop however upon noticing a difference in the holocron; the corner of it is glowing blue. I can also sense it humming slightly, a bit of a pull forming in response to something. Frowning thoughtfully, I focus on the holocron with the Force and carefully detach the corner pieces that were glowing, holding them up in my hand. They gently float a few centimeters over my palm, the pieces moving around in a circle for a few seconds before forming a small arrow, the glowing blue end pointing us toward the entrance.

"I guess there's our answer," I remark pleasantly.

"Well that's convenient," Logan scoffs.

"So, forward then?" Mara asks.

I look over to Raman for permission, surprising him only just slightly. He glances up at the tomb and then the holocron before nodding his head to mean confirmation. The hope in his eyes is evident, which doesn't surprise me considering how important Mandalore's Mask is to them.

"Let's start," he says.

Looking down at the guiding pieces and putting the rest of the holocron away, I start walking forwards down the great pathway and towards the entrance of the tomb, the others following my lead. Toothless warbles in concern as he looks around, but Hiccup pats his head in reassurance.

"Shouldn't we be at all concerned with the possibility of dark magic over this place?" Aathias asks cautiously.

I frown in reply, remembering our earlier conversation and glance back at them.

"I don't sense anything so far, but you have a point," I say in agreement. "Mara, keep your guard up."

"Got it," she replies in understanding.

"So we won't have to worry about that?" Logan questions.

"Mara and I can hold any residue darkness at bay," I reassure him. "Even so, it's best to stay close to one of us incase there is a danger."

The Mandalorians all share glances with each other before nodding their heads in grim, or reluctant, understanding, their bodies slightly tense in a warrior's battle-readiness. Astrid keeps her axe in one hand while Hiccup walks beside Toothless, a hand on the dragon's side to keep him calm. Toothless could sense a bit of the strangeness of this place, and was looking around suspiciously at everything.

Looking down at the holocron guide once more, I keep a steady pace as we walk towards the entrance of the tomb. There were four tall statues seemed like guardian knights of some sword, each holding a sword that rested on the ground. After the path between the statues was a small courtyard, and beyond that the entrance of the tomb. The building angled inwards toward the entrance, but other than the obvious door there was nothing too special about it. We came to a stop in front of the door and I spotted an old socket plug, designed for astromech droids.

"R5, see if you can make something out of that," I tell him.

The droid rolls forward with a confirming beep, stopping in front of the socket and stretch out his plug. He attempts to work it, beeping irritably and grumbling at the scratchy, squeaky sounds of the rusted device which clearly hasn't been used in a long time. It takes a little bit of effort and some annoyed exclamations from R5, but he manages to send a burst of power through that opens the doorway, revealing a darkened tunnel that stretches onwards into the mountain.

"Well that looks pleasant," Hiccup sighs in exasperation.

Toothless rumbles in agreement to express his discomfort, and a few others activate flashlights on their helmets, peering inside.

"So, we just walk right in?" Crassus asks.

"Where else?" Kira teases in reply, and he lets out a sigh.

"Oh, you two…" Shae murmurs in exasperation.

"Does anybody know how big the tomb is inside?" Mara asks, looking up at everyone questioningly.

"Jovani gave me a map of what he knows from his last time here," Raman tells us.

He pulls up a holographic map on his gauntlet, giving us a view of the tomb's structure in a small 3D model. There's the outside of course, and Raman zooms in slightly to focus more on the structure's interior. There are several chambers scattered around, the largest one seemingly in the middle of the mountain, and lots of corridors and tunnels snaking all around them. It's by no means as complicated as the Geonosian catacombs, thank the Force, but it isn't the simplest of mazes either.

"Freedom Nadd's resting place is supposedly in the largest chamber," he continues.

"It'd make sense to put the mask there," Aathias nods in agreement.

"There are a few other chambers though, and if it's been hidden this long then it won't be laying out in the obvious places," Hiccup points out, studying the map.

"Maybe there's a clue in the big area?" Astrid suggests.

"Maybe…" Logan murmurs.

"Alright, then we go to the main chamber, see what's around, then head out," Crassus states.

"Or wherever the holocron directs us," I add, getting a brief sense of annoyance from him.

"Either way, we should get moving," Kayli says, looking down the tunnel. "This place gives me the creeps."

She was right to an extent. Since we opened the doorway I could detect the faint presence of the dark side from within, slowly filtering out in soft whispers. Whatever lingered behind still has some influence here, though hopefully it's not very much.

"I guess I'll lead," I comment, glancing at Raman. "You think you could transfer the map to R5?"

"Any reason?" he asks, a bit cautious.

"Well, I'm sure you don't want to stop and lift your arm every time we might need it," I respond sarcastically.

Raman shakes his head, but does concede and shuts off the hologram, giving R5 the datafile for the map. R5 lets out a quiet laugh or grumble in response, taking the drive and downloading the data into his system.

"Will Toothless be ok?" Mara asks Hiccup.

"He should be fine," he replies, looking down at his dragon. "You ok there bud?"

Toothless lets out a short warble in response, clearly unsettled but still willing to go along with Hiccup and the rest of us from what I could sense. Satisfied, I turn forward and gaze into the darkened tunnel for a few seconds, glance down at the still glowing holocron guide, and step into the tunnel. The rest of the group follow after me, shining their lights around while maintaining a cautious hold of their weapons.

Tomb of Freedon Nadd - Dxun

3rd person POV...

The opening of main entrance into the tomb had a side effect, sending an electrical current throughout its systems.

Deep inside of the tomb and hidden in the dark was an ancient droid, it's shiny orange color scheme long since faded to dull flicks of gray. The electrical current sent through the structure manages to awaken the droid, it's chassis shuddering as it comes to life. It raises its head to reveal a pair of glowing red eyes, and takes a shaky step forward to detach itself from the wall.

"Warning: Intruders detected inside. Threat must be eliminated," the droid declares, it's voice a bit faulty.

Running a diagnostic of itself, the droid turns and begins to make its way through the darkened room toward a cache of machine and droid parts, intent on repairing its old and rusted chassis. With a brand new one it'll be better able to deal with the threat, so that they don't disturb the prize it has been charged with protecting.

Jarik POV…

This main corridor coming from the entrance continued on for some time, having only a few side corridors opening along the way. The tunnel did angle downwards as we went on, traveling deeper into the mountain. The silence was deafening, the tunnel walls covered with cold plant lift of a mossy sort, filtering out through cracks in the stone. How, after all this time, there's still some electrical power operating that could open the main entrance, I have no idea, but it certainly doesn't seem to work anymore for most things. The lighting for example, that's long since busted.

"We still going straight?" Mara asks.

"The holocron hasn't changed," I tell her with a shrug.

"And the central chamber is ahead as well," Raman adds.

Passing by a clump of moss, Toothless looks at it with a disgruntled moan of unease, shaking his head as he continues on. Hiccup pats his head apologetically as he looks around the tunnel, holding his own reservations of it.

"Yeah, this place doesn't look too fun," he murmurs.

"Kind of reminds me of when we went looking for Hamish's treasure," Astrid recalls, looking at him.

"Hmm hmm," he hums in agreement.

Things progress without much change before the dark side swirls with sudden intensity; a sudden breeze billows out of the tunnel from ahead of us, blowing past us with the lingering sense of some echoing shriek. We all come to a halt in surprise at the sudden burst of wing; Mara and I instantly bring up our Force shields around the group incase any sort of dark side influence was attempting to grasp hold, and Toothless instinctively does the same with Hiccup and Astrid. Just as fast as the presence appeared, however, it was already gone.

We stand in silence for a few moments, R5 letting out a long beep and shuddering: he's not able to feel or hear the darkness echoing by, but he could definitely detect the physical presence of the wind, which shouldn't be possible in these tunnels. Kira finally breaks the silence.

"What, in Ordo's name… was that?" she asks uneasily.

"I don't know…" Aathias replies with subdued anxiety.

"Dark magic," Logan growls.

I stand still for a moment, narrowing my eyes as I try to detect any sort of dark presence that could be focused on us, but there's still nothing. Toothless lets out a low growl, shifting closer towards his viking companions with his tail curled on the ground around Hiccup protectively, his pupils slightly narrowed. I then glance down at the holocron guide, blinking my eyes at seeing its direction has now changed: angling toward the right, instead of straight. Looking ahead, I see the faint shadow of another corridor doing just that.

"Our direction just changed," I state, looking down at the guide arrows once more. "It wants us to angle right."

"Really?" Raman asks warily.

"Did it ever occur to you that this could just be a wild banta chase?" Crassus questions irritably.

"If I had doubts, then we wouldn't be here," I remind him with a glance.

"We agreed on going to the main chamber first," Aathias says.

"Or wherever the holocron said to go," Mara adds.

"How can we trust it?" Shae questions in response.

"It's got us this far," she argues.

"Yeah, to a place filled with empty tunnels and dark sorcery," Crassus retorts.

"That's not fair," Astrid says with a frown.

I would be focused on breaking up the growing tension of this argument, but my mind was elsewhere. I look at Toothless for a long moment, noticing his uncomfortable fidgeting even after the dark presence has passed, and then cast my senses out further into the tunnels, the Force trying to warn me of something.

"Hey, all of you," I say, scowling when they don't notice. "BE QUIET!"

My raised voice catches them by surprise, and I drop my frustration to look back down the tunnel, feeling uneasy.

"We're being watched," I say quietly.

3rd person POV…

Much of the tombs power and electrical equipment has long since decayed due to the passage of time, but for a droid like him he still had other means of carrying out his work. He could see the intruders standing together in the main hallway, having stopped for some reason. His scanners, thermal vision, and several other instruments on hand enabled him to make them out quite clearly, and he had them right where he wanted them.

"Assessment: they are surely doomed," he states.

Raising his right arm up, the repaired—mostly—assassin droid pressed a few buttons on his wrist pad, his red optics gleaming with with some cold satisfaction as he enacts the first phase of traps.

Jarik POV…

A rumble from behind us begins erupting, and we whip around to face the source of the disturbance. Our eyes widen in alarm as the tunnel seems to collapse further down, blocking us off from the entrance of the tomb. Toothless lets out a panicked roar in response to the collapsing tunnel, and before we could react to it in any way something new pops out to strike.

A section of wall crumbles away, allowing for dozens of small insect-like creatures about three inches long to come pouring out. They release shrill sounding shrieks and begin to scuttle over in out direction, their focus clearly on us.

"Orbalisks!" Raman exclaims.

"What?!" Hiccup and Astrid both ask in a panic.

"They're parasites! Don't let them bite you!" he informs us.

He and the rest of the Mandalorians whips out their blasters, panicked, and begin firing away at the approaching creatures. Each bolt impact scatters a few of them with shrill cries, but surprisingly don't seem to kill them at first glance. We start to quickly back away as they scurry over to us, and the closest one is bold enough to leap into the air at me. I whip out my lightsaber to slash at it, but to my shock it isn't cut in half; the insects shell seems to withstand it as it attempts to crawl over it to jump at me, but I swing the saber against the wall and finally manage to kill it with a slice to the underside.

"Ok, that's bad! Lightsaber resistant shells!" I exclaim in disbelief and frustration.

"Are you serious?!" Mara shouts incredulously.

"Their undersides are vulnerable!" I respond, slashing through the next two jumpers.

"Toothless, plasma blast!" Hiccup says urgently.

Toothless readily complies with a violet blast of energy against the rushing wave of orbalisks, blowing a good chunk of them away with high pitched screeches. However it's not enough to get them all, and the orbalisks just continue to crawl out of the hole. Toothless fires a few more blasts while the Mandalorians fire their blasters wildly, and Mara and I cut down any that get close enough to jump at us. The rate of their attacks is rapidly increasing however, forcing us to start jumping back and away from the vicious bugs. Mara yelps as one bounces off of her lightsaber to land beside her foot, lunging toward her once more. She manages to avoid it and then crushes the bug under her boot, but the tide is still increasing.

"We can't keep this up!" Kira shouts anxiously, blasting a group of them.

A few orbalisks scurry over to Hiccup, Astrid and Toothless, screeching defiantly at them. They stumble back with panicked yelps, Toothless unable to expel more than a bit of smoke as he's reached his shot limit, and they strike. I hold my left arm out just in time to block a few of them, which start biting into the metal instead. Swinging it around I smash them flat against the wall, while Astrid manages to slice through another bug with her axe, looking surprise herself, while Toothless stopped the rest by swinging his tail out the smack them away with its fin.

"Toothless reached his shot limit!" Hiccup reveals in a panic.

"What do you mean shot limit?!" Crassus demands in angry bewilderment.

Toothless roars in a panic, bouncing on his feet as the bugs start to swarm around him. Hiccup and Astrid back up once more, but luckily R5 comes to the rescue. With a loud squeal he rolls forward and pulls out his electric-shock prod and lets loose. Arcs of blue electricity shoot out and crackle against the orbalisks, spreading out to catch them all. The bugs screech in surprise and pain as R5 angrily zaps them. Those caught by his prod are fried to a crisp, and the line is pushed back a little.

"Hah! Nice one R5," Mara congratulates.

"Yeah, thanks," Astrid adds gratefully, and Hiccup nods in agreement.

"They can't handle electricity!" Kayli notices.

"What about a few burns?" Kira suggests.

The Mandalorians take a moment to consider the idea before approving, and Raman puts his blaster away.

"Flamethrowers!" he shouts.

Responding to the command, the other three adults join him in putting their blasters away and raising their arms. Four bursts of intense flames shoot out of their vambraces and begin scorching the floor, effortlessly covering everything in front of them in fire; luckily these bugs don't have any defense against this. The orbalisks screech in agony as they're engulfed in fire, scuttling around in a wild panic. Dozens of them are burned all at once, giving us some room.

When they stop shooting fire, however, the orbalisks instantly resume their charge, crawling over their charred comrades and still pouring out of the hole in a limitless number.

"Oh come on!" Hiccup groans.

"How many of these things are there?!" Shae exclaims.

"Kriffing bugs!" Kira says angrily.

I look up at the ceiling in response to a warning from the Force, and moments later it starts to shake and crack apart.

"Everyone, move!" I shout in warning.

I use the Force to blow Mara, Toothless, and the Vikings out of harms way, before jumping away myself. The Mandalorians notice the danger as well and lunge out of the way as far as possible, just as the entire ceiling collapses. Large chunks of rock are blown down as some sort of explosive inside of it breaks apart, blocking the tunnel—thankfully separating us from the orbalisks.

I cough a few times to clear my lungs of any residue dust, and slowly push myself to my feet. Finding my vision obscured by black, I take my lightsaber out and ignite it once more, the blue blade glowing brightly in the dark tunnel.

"Everyone alright?" I call out.

The shift of movement behind me has me turning around, and I see Raman pulling himself to his feet with a groan, helping Aathias up as well.

"We're alright," he replies, reactivating his helmet's flashlight. "How you doing kids?"

There's no answer, much to all of our concern. We turn in the direction of the collapsed tunnel, widening our eyes in alarm to see that nobody else is with us. We must've jumped into the side corridor when it fell, which left us completely blocked off from the others.

"Nayc!" Raman exclaims.

He rushes up to the pile of boulders with Aathias right on his tail, and they begin searching along the cave in desperately, looking for any openings to get through.

"Can anyone here me?!" he calls out.

"Kira, Crassus, are you there?!" Aathias cries out in worry. "Are you alright?"

I quickly move up beside them and stretch my senses out through the Force, seeking the rest of our group. To my relief I can sense them all still alive and in one piece, although one of the Mandalorians seems to be in some form of pain.

"I think someone's hurt, but they're all alive," I inform them.

"I don't care what you can sense, Shan, I want us through this kriffing wall!" Aathias snaps.

"By the looks of things, that's not happening," I retort, narrowing my eyes at the cave in.

"You said someone was watching us," Raman recalls, turning to look at me. "Who?!"

"I don't know who," I respond tensely. "All I could sense was that there were eyes on us."

Raman scoffs, shaking his head. I could tell he had an irritated glare of frustration on his face underneath that helmet.

"I've put a lot of trust in you so far Jarik. You said this wouldn't be much trouble, yet here we are trapped inside of this di'kutla cave before we could even begin!" he snaps angrily. "This tunnel didn't collapse by accident: those were planned explosions!"

"Well what would you have me do?" I ask helplessly. "It's not like I could've known there's someone else here trying to kill us!"

"You could've just never come to us in the first place!" Aathias snarls fiercely, turning towards me with rage. "None of us would be having any problems right now if you didn't drag us all out on your dini'la quest!"

"Well we're here now Aathias!" I yell loudly, startling them both. I take a deep breath to calm myself down before continuing. "Look, we could argue about this for Force knows how long, but right now we have bigger problems. I'm not powerful enough to clear the tunnel without causing even more damage, so we have to find a way to connect to the others and then figure out another way out of here."

"...fine," Raman concedes irritably.

"How're we supposed to find our way through this maze? We don't have the map: your droid was probably crushed with it!" Aathias states with a light jab at me.

"Never underestimate a droid. Especially one with personality," I retort, but consider her point. "We do, however, still have a guide for us."

I reach back into a pouch on my belt and grab the two holocron pieces from before, letting them float in my hand. They're still glowing blue, and are now pointing down the tunnel we're in.

"Absolutely not! We've already done enough here!" she scowls.

"You got a better option?" I challenge, raising an eyebrow.

"We find the others, and leave!" she snaps.

"This is our only guide through the tunnels," I remind her, holding up the small polyhedron's for emphasis.

"Alright, enough!" Raman interrupts with a frustrated groan. "I can't stand being the middle ground all the time! I'm sorry Aathias, but we'll have to follow Jarik on this one. We don't have a way to get through the debris, and our only way out is forward."

Aathias sighs in irritation and defeat, crossing her arms as she concedes.

"Ok," she says quietly.

"Jarik, I get you think you're doing the right thing, but we still don't have any definitive proof that the mask is here aside from your word. If we find the others first, we're out of here," he adds, turning toward me.

I want to argue, frustrated at how hard it is to convince them all that the mask is here, but I withhold my thoughts and give him a reluctant nod.

"Good," he nods in satisfaction.

His comlink then starts to beep, much to our surprise, and a static-filled voice sounds from the device.

"Fath... Father, can you... ear me? Do you read me?" Crassus says anxiously.

"I read you Crassus," Raman replies with relief. "I'm with your mother and Jarik. What's your status over there?"

Aathias murmurs a few words I can't make out in mando'a, sounding relieved.

"Irritated, but okay," Crassus replies. "We're all together, but Logan was hurt by the collapsing rock."

"How bad?" he asks, concerned.

"A rock landed on his leg. It might be broken, but otherwise he's okay," he informs us. "He's cursing up a storm though."

Raman sighs, shaking his head in exasperation.

"But the rest of you are fine?" Aathias asks, worried.

"A little banged up, but fine," he says. "Even the dumb astromech."

I'm sure R5 is taking that well.

"Can you call the outpost for support?" Raman asks.

"We tried, but we haven't been able to get a signal," he says in frustration.

"We're too deep underground, most likely," I deduce.

"Alright. Well here's the plan. Since we're separated, the three of us are going to continue looking for the mask, since this is where Jarik's clue leads us. You guys have the map of the tunnels, so I want you to head for the central chamber and then search for a way out," Raman tells him.

"What?! We're still going through with this garbage?" Crassus demands. "After what just happened?!"

"It's our only way forward if we want to find a way out," he points out.

"This is kriffing stupid. I knew coming here was a bad idea!" he says angrily.

"Well what's done is done. You search for a way out, and hopefully we'll join you soon," Raman says.

"Be careful, all of you," Aathias says anxiously. "We still don't know who else is down here."

"We will, mother," Crassus promises, his voice a bit softer.

With that being said the call between us drops, and Raman lowers his arm while I deactivate my lightsaber.

"So, forward?" I ask.

"Sure. Let's just get this over with," he scoffs in reply.

With their helmet's lights shining the path ahead of us, I start walking down the tunnel with my aunt and uncle flanking me from behind, both holding a blaster in their hands tensely, in case something else tries coming after us.

3rd person POV...

"Observation: First trap proved unsuccessful, though the intruders are now split up."

The assassin droid looks over the data he recorded on the failed first attempt to kill the intruders, observing their combat strategy. A group of Mandalorians, two human's with some strange beast, and a pair of Jedi. He has no doubt what it is they're after now. The group in the main tunnel, while more numerous and with greater firepower, is less experienced than the other three. One is injured, most of them are young while the alien creature has a blast limit, and the female Jedi is not as skilled as the older.

An apprentice, most likely.

"Conclusion: the first group of meat bags are an easier target, and seek a way out. I suppose they will have to die first."

The orange assassin droid's red optics gleam brightly with eagerness. Grabbing his blaster rifle, he stomps his way out of the control room and through the tunnels to eliminate the intruders.

Mara POV...

The idea that someone is down here hunting us is a bit worrying. The idea that we might be trapped down here since the tunnel collapsed is even more scary. And apparently, our job is to find a way out of this tomb while Dad and the other two continue searching for the mask. It sounds reasonable and all, but putting up with these Mandalorians is insufferable; well, mostly just Crassus.

"Thank you, Jedi, for putting us all in this place," he says with a sarcastic sigh.

"You done yet?" I ask him dryly.

"I don't know, are we still trapped in this cave?" he says in reply.

"You know, whining about it won't really help," Hiccup suggests.

"He's got a point Crassus," Shae tells him.

"Oh, I actually agree with him!" Crassus nods in reply. "This is more for me to have fun irritating our visitors than it is me venting my frustrations at the ridiculousness of it all."

Hiccup, Astrid, and I all let out groans of exasperation while R5 gives a disparaging beep, and Kira rolls her eyes. Kayli continues to help Logan move along with us, his arm slung around her shoulders while he hopped on one foot. His boot was removed so that we could bandage his injured leg, which he made sure to keep carrying with him. Hiccup offered to let him ride Toothless so that it wouldn't be such a struggle but he fiercely refused. Something about maintaining his honor and dignity even as an injured warrior, or something like that.

"I'm starting to think the kids are more annoying than you and Sedriv were," Kayli tells Logan.

"Hmph. We are the elders now, aren't we?" he scoffs in good humor.

"How big is this tomb?" Astrid asks, looking around the tunnel. "It's crazy how long this goes."

"Tombs of kings on Onderon were often made this way. The hope is in making sure their spirit can settle and pass into the afterlife, and to prevent brigands and looters from disturbing them," Logan explains.

"Kind of like us?" she asks cautiously.

"Pretty much," he admits.

"Another reason of why we shouldn't be here!" Crassus remarks cheerfully.

"Oh shut it, brother," Kira drawls.

"Had to be said," he shrugs unapologetically.

Toothless sniffs at a small crack in the wall, a growl rumbling in the back of his throat. I hear a high pitched screech coming from the wall, and we all back away in alarm as a couple of orbalisks pop out. However Toothless is having none of that, and he fries them to a crisp with a single plasma blast. Crassus and Shae are instantly on top of it, shoving a small boulder over the crack to prevent any more from coming out.

"Not dealing with those freaks again," Shae scoffs.

"There's something we can all agree on," Astrid adds.

"Nice job bud," Hiccup says, patting Toothless on the head.

"I suppose I stand corrected on thinking your creature was a pushover," Kira remarks thoughtfully. "I still don't understand your supposed 'war' with them."

"It's not the most complicated thing," Astrid shrugs.

"Really? It felt kind of complicated to me," Hiccup argues.

"You make everything complicated," she points out.

Hiccup frowns, wanting to disagree, but eventually concedes her point with a sigh. I shrug my shoulders at him with a light grin on my face.

"But yeah, our people were at war with dragons for generations. They'd come by our village to raid us for our food, and we had to fight them off," Astrid explains.

"It was basically 'kill or be killed' there," Hiccup adds.

"So what changed?" Kayli asks, curious.

Astrid turns to Hiccup, raising an eyebrow, and he glances sheepishly at Toothless.

"Well, I managed to shoot Toothless down with one of my inventions. Took off one of the fins of his tail," he explains, gesturing to the tail fin. "I found him later, tangled up in my bolas, and I wanted so badly to kill him. I would finally not be seen as a screw-up by the rest of the tribe! But... I didn't."

"Why not?" Crassus asks, frowning.

"...I still don't fully know, but... I do know that he was afraid. And it stopped me. So I freed him," Hiccup says, looking at Toothless. "Over time we became friends. I fixed up his tail and learned to fly with him, and together we showed everyone else that we could change, that we didn't have to fight them."

"You make it sound easy," Logan scoffs.

"Honestly, it really wasn't," he replies.

"No kidding," I scoff in agreement.

"The main reason the dragons attacked us was to bring food back to their Queen, who was a giant sea dragon living inside of a volcano," Astrid explains.

"How big was it?" Kira asks, curious.

"I'd say about the size of the tomb's exterior, if not bigger," I deduce.

They all come to a halt in bewilderment, staring at us incredulously.

"Seriously?" Shae asks.

"Shut up," Kira says.

"And what, you killed that thing?" Crassus asks doubtfully.

"Yup, this guy did! Singlehandedly!" I say cheerfully.

I sling an arm around Hiccup's shoulder for emphasis, making him slightly red out of embarrassment. To be honest though it's not as easy to do this as it used to be, since Hiccup's actually grown fairly tall in the past year. He's only 17 and he's already pushing close to six feet!

"Well, it wasn't all me... I had Toothless," he points out.

"Also true!" I say in agreement, releasing him in favor of patting Toothless, who accepts my attention happily.

"I don't believe it," Crassus says, shaking his head.

"Believe it or not, that's what happened," I retort.

"So, you ended generations of war between dragons and your people by killing this... Queen?" Kayli asks carefully.

"...pretty much," Hiccup nods in agreement.

"To be honest... this has kind of got me thinking," Astrid says. "You guys hate Jarik's family, all because of something his ancestor did? To be honest, I know exactly how that feels."

"I'm not sure you do. It's a complicated history," Logan says.

"Jarik already told us the story," she states.

"His biased and skewed version?" Crassus says dismissively.

"Hey, your view is biased too, you know," I retort.

"She has a point," Kira admits.

"Oh come on," he groans in exasperation.

"Just hear me out," Astrid insists. "When it came to our war with the dragons we hated them with a passion, believing them to be soulless monsters. But we were wrong. The dragons were never the problem: the Queen was. It was the Queen's fault that they attacked us viciously in the first place."

"What's your point?" Shae asks suspiciously.

"All of this bad blood between Jarik's family and Mandalore, only started because of the actions of one person: Revan," Astrid states. "He's like the Queen dragon in this situation; the things he did caused this divide, not anyone else in his family."

I can tell they're all surprised, having not considered seeing it from this point of view.

"So you can hate Revan all you want. But blaming all of his descendants for what he did makes you know better, just like us Vikings were wrong to believe all dragons were the problem," she finishes.

The Mandalorians are silent for a little bit, and I give Astrid a nudge on the arm.

"Couldn't have said it better myself," I tell her.

"Me neither. That was great!" Hiccup adds in support.

"Thanks guys," she replies, a bit sheepish.

"I never thought I'd find myself sympathizing with a Shan... but you do carry a well-reasoned argument," Logan remarks.

"Indeed. I see why Fenn Rau would've spoken highly of you, if that is indeed the case," Kayli adds in agreement.

I glance over at Crassus, who's face is impossible to read considering they all have their helmets on, to get a sense of his thoughts on it. From what I can sense he's still very reluctant to agree, but he's not so foolish as to ignore clear and well-reasoned arguments.

"I see your point as well... as much as I hate admitting it," he says bitterly.

"Heh, no surprise there brother," Kira teases him.

"Hmph. No surprise indeed," Shae adds in agreement, sounding a bit fond.

Our conversation quickly comes to a halt as our surroundings finally change; we've reached the end of the tunnel. The chamber in front of us is vast, surprisingly so, and our footsteps echo all around it. The Mandalorians look around, shining their lights to get a view of everything, and R5 lets out a low beep as he shines his light straight ahead.

At the opposite end stands a tall statue, wearing some sort of armor with a sword held in front of him, the tip resting on the ground. A helmet is placed on the statues head, with some sort of circular symbol etched on its front. I shiver lightly upon sensing the presence of the dark side coming from the statue, and Toothless rumbles tensely as well, narrowing his eyes at it; there's no doubt in my mind that must be Freedon Nadd, the ancient Sith Lord who's buried here.

The chamber is circular in shape, surrounded by tall columns at the edge with various levels, leading downwards the further inwards they go. At the center of the chamber is a rectangular stone coffin, engraved with ancient symbols in a language I don't know. Three guesses of who's body lies inside of that.

"This is it, right?" I ask dryly.

R5 beeps in confirmation, shaking a little bit on his legs with unease.

"It's kind of cold in here..." Hiccup murmurs anxiously.

"Yeah, it is," Astrid adds in agreement.

"It's the dark side. I can sense it in here," I say grimly, keeping my senses on high alert.

"Well, we're here. Let's see if we can find an exit," Logan says with a grunt, shifting over to sit down.

We all gather around as R5 brings up a holographic map of the tomb, and analyze the different tunnels leading out of here.

"We could try this tunnel, it leads closer to the tomb's exterior," Kayli suggests.

"It doesn't look like it has an exit though," Shae points out.

"Are there other exits to the tomb?" Hiccup asks.

"There should be. These places were made to be difficult to navigate, but there shouldn't be just one entrance to the whole thing," Logan states.

"Statement: There is another way. But you will not be finding it," a voice suddenly interrupts.

We whip around in alarm at the sudden voice, the Mandalorians pulling out their blasters while I ignite my lightsaber, casting my senses around.

"Who's there?!" Crassus demands.

"Correction: It is not me that is important, but you. You are intruders that must be dealt with."

The voice is echoing all around us, clearly enhanced by a speaker of some sort. I can't sense anybody though, so whoever it is must not actually be in here. But I can still sense movement...

"We have no intention of remaining here. In fact, we want to find a way out," Logan points out.

"So you say, meatbag," the person replies.

"Meatbag...?" Kira murmurs incredulously.

"All we want is to find a way out of the tomb. We have no desire to intrude upon this place," Kayli tells him. "If you could be kind enough to lead us out, then we will not bother you again."

"Musing: That would be reasonable, but I'm afraid you're wrong. You seek something here, something that I will not allow you to have. As do the other three."

I narrow my eyes at the mention of my Dad and the other two, holding my blue lightsaber at the ready defensively. I can sense something else in here... so why can't I sense any sign of life? Toothless growls dangerously, his pupils narrowed to slits.

"Other three?" I ask slowly.

"Statement: That is correct, young Jedi. Two Mandalorians, and your master," he says simply. "So, who wishes to die first?"

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Hiccup mutters.

Toothless lets out a roar, one that I recognize as his own form of echolocation. He swiftly turns his head up towards our left with a snarl, and I follow his gaze to see two red optics staring down at us from several feet away. Realization kicks in at just what exactly we are facing.

"It's a droid!" I exclaim.

"Clarification: The assassin droid who will end you, to be precise!" he declares cheerfully.

Toothless unleashes a plasma blast directed right at the droid. The bright flash of the plasma bolt allows me to see the orange-colored droid dash away for a split second to avoid the attack, and the rest of the team opens fire. Yellow laser bolts follow the droid around, but he effectively avoids them with ease. He disappears for a moment, and then a canister lands right in the middle of our group, blasting smoke everywhere. We're all effectively blinded, so the assassing droid unleashes his own barrage of blaster bolts in retaliation, all aimed at Toothless. I sense it just in time and leap to Toothless's defense, deflecting the bolts away.

"Observation: The Jedi apprentice defends her allies from blaster fire, like I expected," the droid's voice still echoes around the chamber.

Toothless shoots another plasma blast out of the smoke, and the explosion it causes on impact highlights the form of the droid close by, but doesn't harm it in the slightest. Still, the brief visual is enough, and I chuck my lightsaber in its direction. The blade cuts through a column, but to my frustration doesn't hit anything, and so I call it back to my hand.

"Taunt: You'll need to do more than a simple saber throw to catch me Jedi," he says, voice taunting.

"You've got to be kidding me..." I grumble in disbelief.

"All of you, spread out! We're sitting womp rats like this," Logan orders.

"Theoretic query: If you disperse, who will protect your injured friend?" the droid asks, mocking.

"Don't listen to him, just do it!" he snaps angrily in response.

"Hiccup," Astrid says, giving him a knowing look.

"Right. Let's go bud!" Hiccup says with a nod.

He and Astrid both jump onto Toothless, and they take flight with a quick flourish. Luckily the chamber is large enough for them to maneuver around decently. Toothless dive bombs a particular area with a plasma blast, and the outline of the droid is revealed once more as it rolls out of the way.

"Come on, let's get this kayatr kovid!" Crassus exclaims.

He charges down into the chamber, shooting through the air with his jetpack and tossing a grenade on the ground. The droid is revealed once more as he deflty avoids the grenade and then starts to retaliate himself, shooting red laser bolts into the air. Shae and Kira are right behind Crassus, shooting at the source of the red bolts. However they're blown back as a cluster of rockets are released simultaneously with the droid shooting, catching them off guard. I jump into the fray with my lightsaber, gaining the assassin droid's attention as he starts shooting at me. I deflect his blaster bolts while sprinting toward him, getting a much better view of our adversary.

The assassin droid was an HK series droid, something I recognize from old history texts of the Clone Wars. They're an ancient model, but still effective today simply because they can mimic protocol droids with their mannerisms and design. They were used by the Separatists much, but well enough that the Republic had some data on them. This one is colored a fiery orange, with the red optics that I remember seeing moments earlier.

Flipping past his next blaster bolt, I leap into the air with my lightsaber raised, but a part of his arm changes as he raises it toward me, and I'm blown out of the air by a repulsor blaster. I hit the ground with a surprised grunt and move to get up, but fall back down with a pained scream as some sort of sonic grenade detonates right beside me.

"Statement: Jedi. So predictable," I hear the droid say tauntingly. At least he's not echoing it anymore.

Out of the corner of my vision I see Toothless swoop by for another attack run, but the assassin droid whips around with lightning quick speed and shoots out a flamethrower, eliciting a startled roar of surprise and pain from the night fury. Hiccup shouts in surprise as well, but Astrid actually jumps off of Toothless as they rise up to get out of range of the flames, swinging her axe with a war cry. The droid backs away as she slams her axe into the ground and raises his blaster to attack, but is then tackled from the side by a charging Crassus.

Crassus attempts to throw the droid to the ground with his flying tackle, but the opposite happens instead. The assassin droid stands firm, reaches around with his arm to grab hold of Crassus, and then viciously yanks him off and hurls him down on the ground at his feet. Crassus groans in pain, stunned by the sudden hit, and is then kicked away by the assassin droid. Shae then jumps onto the droid's back and shoots her blaster against his head, causing a mark. The droid grunts in irritation and then does the same thing to her. Kira shoots out an explosive dart from her vambrace, forcing the assassin droid backwards, and follows up with an intense barrage of blaster fire.

The assassin droid kicks Astrid away effortlessly when she tries to surprise him, and then shoots off a single blaster bolt towards Kira. The bolt hits her in the helmet, and she falls to the ground with a pained cry, the bolt luckily not going through the tough beskar. Toothless fires another plasma bolts, but the droid rolls out of the way and chucks something into the air: another sonic device. Toothless wails in pain and tumbles to the ground, and Hiccup cries out in surprise and pain as he's thrown off the saddle.

"Statement: I'm almost disappointed,"the droid remarks.

And I can definitely hear it in his voice.

The agonizing ringing in my ears has thankfully subsided, and I push myself up to my feet with a pained groan, reigniting my blue lightsaber and staring at the assassin droid, breathing heavily.

"Query: Wish to test yourself again, little Jedi?"he asks.

"If only to shut you up!" I snap angrily.

"Statement: The only adults in this room certainly have no trouble watching this," he replies, taunting Logan and Kayli.

Kayli shoots off a yellow blaster bolt towards the droid, but he only ducks his head to the side without much effort, looking in her direction.

"Musing: It must be a shame to know you can't leave him alone without guaranteeing his death," he taunts sadistically.

I notice R5 rolling forwards at high speed, and become extremely nervous for his well being. However if I say anything to dissuade him, then this droid will definitely know to destroy him.

"Hey, droid, how's it feel to be stuck in this tomb for all of your existence?" I call out, trying to get his attention.

"Statement: Your question is stupid," he responds.

R5 whips out his electric prod and then unleashes a devastating shock against the assassin droid, who stumbles in surprise.

"Agh. What the- silly astromech!" he scoffs irritably.

The droid reaches down to grab R5 and easily lifts him up, throwing him away to crash against the stone coffin. R5 lets out a squeal of fear, the impact causing a few sparks to spew out of his dome. Scowling, I dash forwards and jump into the air once more, bringing the assassin droid's attention back to me. He raises his arm to shoot something once more, but this time I thrust my own arm out in response, blasting him with the Force. He soars across the chamber and smacks into the wall with a grunt, landing in a crouch.

"Observation: Impressive. You actually hit me with the Force," he remarks casually.

"Is this guy still talking?" Shae groans.

Glancing back I see the others are now getting back to their feet, recovering from the hits this droid dished out on them. Hiccup has a hand on Toothless, the dragon still shaking his head in a daze but walking forwards, while Crassus, Shae, Kira, and Astrid are coming forward beside me.

"Query: Are you ready for my triumph yet?" the droid asks.

"Are you kidding me? If that's all you got you won't last long at all!" Crassus scoffs, shooting another blaster bolt.

However the assassin droid just lets it bounce off of his chassis, tilting his head as if mocking him.

"Correction: It is not all I have got-" he starts to say.

The assassin droid halts in his sentence, pausing for some reason. I tighten my grip on my lightsaber, tense, expecting something bad to happen. However, the assassin droid doesn't seem to be focused on us anymore. Instead he murmurs something to himself, his optics glowing brighter than before; then he turns around and starts running down a tunnel as fast as he can.

"Uhh... what?" I ask, baffled.

"What is he doing?" Kayli calls out.

"He said we seek something, something that he won't let us have," Hiccup murmurs, thinking hard. He apparently comes to a conclusion, looking at us with wide eyes. "Jarik must have found the mask!"

I widen my eyes in understanding and look up to the tunnel that the assassin droid disappeared into.

"That droid is supposed to protect it!" I say, moving forward. "We have to follow him!"

"Whoa, wait a second!" Crassus interrupts. "We have to find a way out, remember?!"

"We can either keep staring at that map forever, or we follow the droid that knows the way out," I argue, before remembering something. "R5!"

I deactivate my lightsaber and rush over to the astromech droid. He's still lying on the ground, his dome sparking as he lets out pitiful whines. I reach under him and then heave with all of my strength, pushing him up onto his feet.

"You alright buddy?" I ask in concern.

He shudders in response, his dome still sparking a little, and spins his head around a few times before replying. He's not badly damaged, the sparks are just coming from a damaged wire; some of his tools are offline.

"Ok, good. Wouldn't want to see you sent to a scrapheap," I tell him with a small smile.

"So what's the plan? Chase the droid?" Shae asks.

"I think we should go after it," Astrid suggests.

"Yeah, and we have to warn the others that it's coming after them," Hiccup adds urgently.

In response, Crassus lifts his arm and activates his comlink.

"Father, do you read me? Mother? Can either of you hear me?" he asks urgently, but to his frustration only static comes through. "That droid must be jamming our signal!"

"I agree with Mara. We have to follow it!" Kira says.

"Fine. Let's go," Crassus concedes in frustration.

"Wait, what about Logan?" Shae asks, concerned.

"Don't worry about me, just go catch that thing!" Logan orders us.

"We'll be right behind you," Kayli adds in reassurance.

We all share concerned glances before nodding our heads in understanding. Turning towards the tunnel we take off at a run, and I ignite my lightsaber for more light as we enter the smaller tunnel. Hiccup and Astrid climb aboard Toothless, and the night fury lets out another roar to gain extra sight of the tunnel, and the location of the assassin droid.

"He found him!" Hiccup calls out, recognizing the twitches in Toothless's ear flaps.

We allow the three of them to go up front as the leaders and, communicating wordlessly, we all take flight. I jump up onto Toothless behind Astrid while R5, Kira, Crassus, and Shae, take flight with their jetpacks and rocket boosters. The tunnel is large enough for Toothless to fly relatively well, although there's definitely no room for him to perform any tricks.

I'm sure Dad is more than capable of fighting off a surprise ambush from an assassin droid, even one like this, but I still can't help but worry. At least it seems like he's found the mask though.

Mandalorian Outpost - Dxun

3rd person POV...

Jovani was no stranger to responsibility, which is precisely why Raman picked him to look after the clan in his absence. He's able to keep his calm, remain focused, and exudes a strong persona of confidence that would enable him to direct and lead the clan if something were ever to happen.

Knowing his daughter, Shae, volunteered to go on this unnerved him quite a lot, and he urged her not to go. However she insisted on going with Crassus, not giving any other option, much to his unease. Nevertheless he wouldn't stop her, as much as he would like too, and so she went. Ivanka did her best to comfort him, but the memories of his journey to the tomb made him fearful. It's not so much the presence of something dark that unnerved him, but also the dangerous critters there like orbalisks, and also someone in the tomb that stalked his group. He lost a few good warriors when he went there last, and vowed not to return.

And yet his own daughter refused to let him stop her from going.

"They'll be fine, Jovani," Ivanka assures him. "Raman and the others will make sure nothing goes wrong, especially Crassus. That boy loves our daughter you know."

"I know," Jovani replies with a light smile, becoming grim again. "I still can't help but worry."

He lets out an uneasy sigh, attempting to shrug off his worry in and trust that she and their group will be alright. Some of the best fighters are among them, as well as an experienced Jedi, no matter how untrustworthy or disliked he may be. The sudden approach of Sedriv and his son, Jag, as well as Hadrian Malrik, Kira Sohl's boyfriend, gets their attention.

"Jovani, could you spare a minute?" Sedriv asks.

"Of course," he replies, frowning. "Is something wrong?"

"We're not sure," he admits. "Some of the guys guarding Shan's vessel said that the coms have been going crazy. They've tried dismissing the calls, but whoever is trying to contact Shan is being very persistent."

"Could it be an ally of his?" Ivanka suggests.

Sedriv shrugs helplessly, and Hadrian looks up at them.

"Why not just respond? It's not like there's anything to lose," he shrugs.

"Except for the guys trying to call," Jag points out with an amused scoff, but agrees.

Jovani gives Ivanka a glance before nodding his head in approval of the idea.

"I think we should accept their call. Let's just see who wants to talk to Jarik Shan so badly," he decides.

Jovani and Ivanka followed Sedriv, Jag and Hadrian to the hangar that they've kept the Knight Hawk in, the two Mandalorians standing guard allowing them clearance with a respectful nod. They step into the ship and head towards the cockpit, taking note of all the locked doors along the way.

"Say what you want about Jarik Shan, but you can't deny he's a genius when it comes to his slicing skills," Hadrian remarks.

"Hmph," Sedriv replies.

Reaching the cockpit, they're assaulted by the loud sound of the communications console beeping furiously, the caller still trying to contact them furiously.

"See? Just like they said," Jag says, gesturing towards the console.

"Should we respond?" Ivanka asks, concerned.

"It'll at least get them to shut up," Sedriv remarks.

Jovani straightens up and adopts a professional stance, walking in front of the transmitter and accepting the call. A blue hologram appears, displaying the forms of two humans, one of them a teenage boy with short raven black hair, the other a bearded man wearing some sort of mask over his face.

"Jarik, please respond! Mara? Anyone!" the man exclaims.

"Come on guys, where are you?!" the boy yells in a panic.

"You are being received. Identify yourselves," Jovani states.

The boys eyes light up in relief, he and the man letting up a massive sigh.

"Finally!" the boy shouts triumphantly.

"Jarik! Thank the Force you're receiving us," the man says.

"Listen, we've got a huge problem-" the boy starts to say.

"You didn't answer my request," Jovani interrupts.

"...huh?" the boy asks, confused.

"Jarik, we don't have time to go through this," the man says urgently.

"Just answer," he orders firmly.

"Dude, we know you can see us even if we can't!" the boy exclaims in exasperation.

The man is quiet for a moment, his mouth morphing into a frown of concern and sudden unease.

"Who is this?!" he demands coldly.

"Are these people serious?" Jag asks, scoffing.

Hadrian's eyes light up in realization.

"There's a scrambler on the transmitter," he informs them. "Probably to hide Jarik's identity."

"That would make more sense," Sedriv remarks.

"Answer me, now!" the man says fiercely.

"You answer first," Jovani retorts firmly.

"What have you done with Jarik and Mara!?" the boy demands furiously.

"Wait a moment!" a woman's voice shouts, and a familiar person steps into frame of the hologram. "This is Countess Ursa Wren."

"Countess Wren?" Ivanka asks loudly in surprise, she and Jovani sharing a look.

"Yes. Am I speaking to someone from Clan Ordo?" Ursa asks.

"Yes... this is Jovani Danaera," Jovani reveals. "I'm one of Count Raman's closest associates."

"I see," she replies, nodding with a troubled frown on her face. "Where is he? Or Shan?"

"...I'm, not sure we can tell you," Jovani admits.

"Oh for the love of-" the boy growls angrily. "Look, we don't have time for this! If you don't get Jarik here right now then you are all going to die!"

"What?!" they all exclaim in bewilderment, some becoming angry.

"Is Count Raman not available?" Ursa asks anxiously.

"No, not at this time," Jovani replies, narrowing his eyes. "What do you mean, we're all going to die?"

"Danaera, please listen closely, and inform Count Raman as soon as possible," Ursa states urgently, her face grim. "The Empire knows that Jarik Shan is with you."

Ivanka lets out a gasp, and they all widen their eyes in disbelief and worry.

"What!?" Jag exclaims.

"They are sending an entire fleet to destroy you all," she warns them. "You must evacuate your clan as soon as possible!"

"H-how would they know he's here?!" Jovani demands.

"Just trust me," Ursa urges. "You have to evacuate everyone, before it's too late. They will destroy everyone and everything in order to finish off Shan."

They're at a loss for words for a moment, filled with shock, fear, and unease, and Jovani manages a nod of his head.

"I understand. Thank you for warning us," he says.

"Please hurry!" Ursa insists.

As soon as the transmission ends Jovani storms out of the cockpit, and the others swiftly follow him.

"The Empire is sending a fleet after us?!" Jag exclaims in shock. "What are we going to do?!"

"I don't know son," Sedriv says, scowling in helpless anger. "All I know is that we should've never let Jarik Shan stay here!"

"We don't have time to argue about that, what's done is done!" Jovani snaps, storming out of the ship.

"Well we have to figure out something!" Ivanka urges in a panic.

"Sir, is something wrong?" one of the Mandalorian guards asks, concerned.

"Yes," Jovani growls anxiously. "I need you two to go and spread the word to the rest of the clan for an evacuation."

"Evacuation?!" the other responds incredulously.

"Yes. The Empire is coming," he states bluntly, leaving them shocked. "The reason for it doesn't matter, just make sure people understand. And keep them calm about it! The last thing we need is rioting panic."

"Y-yes sir," he replies, baffled.

"Come on man," the other murmurs.

"You two, go with them," Jovani tells Sedriv and Jag.

They both nod in confirmation and the four of them quickly rush off. Jovani turns toward Hadrian, the gears in his mind turning.

"Hadrian, how are the outposts defense capabilities?" he asks.

"The outpost has does have a shield generator. I restored it over the last couple of years, and it should be strong enough to protect us from orbital bombardment," he informs him.

"Good. Mandalore knows we'll need that," Jovani says, relieved. "Get it online as fast as possible, as well as anything else you think might help."

A sudden crash of thunder rumbling in the sky interrupts their conversation, and the three of them look outside of the hangar to see a lone Star Destroyer high in the moon's orbit. A sense of dreadfalls over Jovani at the appearance of the warship, and he gives Hadrian a firm shove and a nod.

"Go, now!"

"I'm on it!" Hadrian replies, sprinting off.

"What about the others?" Ivanka asks him, worried. "At the tomb?"

"We have to warn them too. The mask no longer matters," Jovani nods in agreement.

Tomb of Freedon Nadd - Dxun

Jarik POV...

We've been following the direction of the holocron for some time now, passing through various chambers, pathways, and tunnels, not many of them holding anything interesting, but there is one thing that has been consistent: the blue glow is getting brighter.

"We're getting closer," I say.

"Do you know how close?" Aathias asks.

"If you're looking for a precise calculation, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed," I reply, causing her to sigh in annoyance.

I come to a halt and gesture for Raman and Aathias to do the same, looking around the tunnel with narrowed eyes. Turning to my right, I whip out my lightsaber and slice through a pair of orbalisks that pop out of a crack in the wall. They let out pained screeches as I cut through their vulnerable undersides, and the answer call of another hive sounds from beneath the rocks. Raman curses angrily in Mando'a and lunges forward, jabbing his arm toward the crack and blasting his flamethrower. The fire is blown inside of the wall, eliciting high pitched shrieking as the orbalisks inside are burned to a crisp. He maintains the intensity of his flamethrower for at least half a minute before pulling back, satisfied at no longer hearing any screeching.

"I can't stand those kriffing bugs," he scowls.

"Well, at least we know how to deal with them," I point out optimistically.

"Hmph," he grunts in reply.

We continue on our way through the tunnel, and I glance down at the holocron again to reassure myself of the direction. During our walk I sense a small amount of bitterness from the two behind me, more so from Aathias, and a question hangs over the back of my mind.

"What was my father like?" I ask them.

They're startled by the question, not expecting it, but begin to think heavily on it, several emotions coming up in them. There is some hesitancy though.

"He was… brave, courageous, and loyal to those he cared about," Raman answers softly.

"One of the best fighters our clan ever had, and the best in our generation," Aathias adds.

"I was proud to call him my brother," he says.

"What changed?" I ask them, glancing back.

"Warriors were exiled from Mandalore," Aathias scoffs bitterly.

"It had a big effect on all of us but Marcus…" Raman trails off, sighing sadly. "He became sullen. Distant. Moving here to Dxun sparked a bit of life in him, but he wanted more."

"He wanted something to do," I deduce. "Not just a typical routine to follow."

Raman and Aathias glance at me in surprise, nodding in agreement.

"Yes, that's right," he admits slowly. "He was always kind of free spirited, searching for meaning in life. It's part of what made him one of the best of us."

"And being exiled from Mandalore made him feel restricted," I realize with a sigh.

"And it's all thanks to Duchess Satine with her naive idealism," Aathias says irritably.

"My master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, knew her personally," I remark, recalling my memories of the Duchess. "He and Master Qui-Gon Jinn were her protectors during the Mandalorian Civil War."

"I remember. We were a part of that war," Raman tells me. "Marcus was assigned with them for a time."

I look up in surprise, not expecting to hear that. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon both knew my father? I wonder if Obi-Wan remembers him…

"Anyways, Marcus eventually left the clan in favor of becoming a mercenary," he continues. "As fate would have it, he ended up falling in love with someone on Chandrila."

"My mother," I realize.

"We were thrilled at first. Even though he wasn't with the clan anymore, we still respected him and would've gladly welcomed him back anytime," Raman says, scoffing. "I thought that maybe he would return and settle down with the clan now that he had someone."

"Then we learned that the woman he fell in love with was a Shan," Aathias says, seeming bitter.

"And for that you pushed him out?" I ask, raising an eyebrow at them. "Someone that you all loved and respected, and just because he fell in love with someone, you banish him from your lives?"

"It went against everything we were taught as Mandalorians. The Shan family scorned our people for generations!" she argues.

"There was no other choice," Raman says glumly. "It still hurts me to this day, but in the end he chose that path. He chose a Shan over us."

"Or maybe he came to realize something," I argue in response. "That you shouldn't judge a person for the crimes of their ancestors."

Raman and Aathias both keep their gazes angled to the ground, and I press on.

"If my father was all the things that you say he was, then he never would have betrayed you. Or Mandalore," I state firmly. "He chose to put the anger and hate of the past behind him, and look towards a brighter future. I think that in itself, is a sign of true honor and courage, following the ideals of what it truly means to be Mandalorian."

They're silent for a long while, and I can sense that my words seem to be getting to them as they consider it. They're still reluctant and bitter about it all, but also more sympathetic and understanding.

Before either of them can give a response however, my holocron starts to flare brightly, gaining my attention. I look ahead to see a big doorway directly in front of us, the room behind it sealed behind a giant slab of stone. I look down at my holocron guide once more, the blue glow pulsing in affirmative, and I turn back with a hopeful smile on my face.

"This must be it," I tell them.

"How're we gonna get through?" Aathias asks.

"Can you hold this for a moment?" I ask in reply.

I hold the holocron guide-pieces out to her, and she cautiously opens her hand to take them. She's a bit surprised when they continue to float in her palm, but doesn't react.

Turning back to face the doorway, I close my eyes and take a deep breath, calling upon the Force to aid me. Lifting my hands up as if pushing something upwards, I use the Force to lift the stone slab, grunting in exertion as I do so. The stone slab scrapes against the doorway, shaking and expelling dust and dirt that hasn't been moved in many years. When I've pushed the slab up all the way it's held in place by some sort of stone latch within, and I release my hold over it with an exhausted sigh.

"Hmm. Useful," Raman comments.

"Thanks," I reply in exasperation, taking the holocron guiders back from Aathias.

We make our way into the chamber and look around, the light from their helmets illuminating the place. The chamber is circular in shape, a few hundred feet across in diameter, but otherwise fairly empty of things. There seemed to be no other tunnels in this chamber, but on the opposite end of the chamber is a ceiling height statue, about fifteen feet tall. I recognize the figure of the statue as Freedon Nadd.

Looking at my holocron once more, I gesture the other two forward and walk across the chamber towards the statue. The blue glow gets brighter and brighter the closer I get, but once I'm within several feet of the statue, the glow disappears entirely.

"Hmm… strange," I murmur.

"Is it supposed to just turn off like that?" Aathias asks cautiously.

"The mask has got to be here," I reason, looking back at them.

"In the statue?" Raman asks doubtfully. "I'm not seeing anything for it."

"Who would come into my domain?" a deep voice asks.

We turn our heads forward and quickly back away as a ghostly figure emerges from the statue. The spirit is orange-red in color, clothed in wispy red robes and silver armor covering his chest, spikes protruding out of the shoulders, and a tall, spiked crown resting atop his head. Dark red mist crackles around his body, and he hovers over us with a piercing glare, his red, soulless eyes gleaming brightly. The dark side surges in power around us.

"Two warriors and a Jedi," Freedon Nadd scoffs in disgust.

Aathias shoots her blaster on instinct, but the yellow bolt flies harmlessly through his body. Freedon Nadd chuckles mockingly, crossing his arms.

"You are foolish to think you can harm me, mortal," he sneers.

"Jarik?!" Raman demands, panicking.

"Relax," I respond, keeping my voice calm. "Just stay calm."

"Calm? You're lucky I'm feeling merciful today, Jedi," Freedon Nadd states. "No one disrupts my tomb without consequence."

"Freedon Nadd," I reply slowly, maintaining my stance with a firm gaze. "We did not come here to disturb your rest."

The red spirit looks down at me, red eyes gleaming in interest, and floats down closer to begin circling us.

"Hmm… so you know who I am. Do you wish to learn from me?" he questions.

Aathias and Raman are both as stiff as rock, their hands aching to pull the trigger of their blasters despite knowing it will do nothing, cringing away when the spirit passes by close to them. It's quite obvious that they aren't happy with this.

"You've rested here for a long time," I say, gaining the spirit's attention. "Do you know where Mandalore's Mask is?"

"Mandalore's Mask?" he hisses in disdain. "Why should I care about the petty interests of Mandalore?"

"Because you care about your place here. And the mask was hidden away in this room, millennia ago," I tell him.

"So you say Jedi. But unfortunately for you, you are mistaken," he replies. "There is no mask here."

"You're lying!" Aathias snaps.

"Oh do I, mortal?" Freedon Nadd sneers, moving over to her. "And what would you know compared to me?"

Aathias cringes away from the spirit, her fear spiking, and Raman steps forward to get between her before a looking from the Sith Lord halts him in his tracks. I narrow my eyes at Freedon Nadd, taking a step in his direction.

"The mask is here. We know this is true," I state firmly.

"You carry great power, Jedi. Your body is filled with it. And yet you are so misguided," he replies, turning to face me. "You would be wise to accept the dark side."

"I will not," I retort, maintaining my gaze.

Freedon Nadd chuckles, crossing his arms once more and moving back to stand in front of his statue, hovering in the air above us.

"Unfortunate. But if that is the case, then I may as well use you all to ensure my return to life," he declares with a leering grin.

"Jarik!" Raman says anxiously.

"We're fine uncle!" I reply calmly, narrowing my eyes at the spirit. "He can't hurt us."

"No… I won't hurt you. Instead you'll serve a much greater purpose!" Freedon Nadd says viciously. "When I am once again of the body, I will also command once more the dark side's limitless power!"

"You and I both know that won't happen," I retort.

"Is that so?" he demands, scowling at me.

"You can't touch us Freedon Nadd. The Sith are incapable of maintaining a consciousness after death," I say confidently. "You're only an illusion."

Freedon Nadd leans down to me with a growl of anger and presses his face inches from me, sneering at me.

"You believe you know the ways of the Force like I do?" he demands with contempt.

"I know enough," I reply firmly, glaring at him intently. "You don't exist anymore."

My defiance against this illusion of Freedon Nadd seems to do the trick. The Force swirls with power, and Freedon Nadd looks back at his statue in alarm as an invisible force begins pulling him towards it. He screams in fear and rage, scrambling desperately at the air as he's sucked underneath the statue, the dark side of the Force vanishing with his absence.

I let out a breath of relief, and turn toward the others to gauge their reactions; they're shocked, but relieved as well, stepping up to me.

"That was an illusion?" Raman asks, stunned.

"Like I said, the Sith can't maintain their consciousness after death. Wielders of the dark side are bound to the physical realm," I inform him with a nod of confirmation.

"Well, that's good to know," Aathias remarks.

The statue then rumbles, drawing our attention to it. Raman and Aathias back up in alarm, fearing another dark spirit, but instead it's just a section of the pedestal opening up. A stone 'drawer' of some kind slides open about two feet and then stops, revealing it to be a container of some kind. We step forwards and look down into the container, widening our eyes at the sight within.

With its simple, yet intricate t-shape visor and basic helmet design, the appearance of Mandalore's Mask is unmistakable. And even after all this time, it still shines with bright gold color as if it were brand new.

"Mandalore's Mask…" Raman breathes in awe.

"It's true…" Aathias murmurs with wonder. "You really were telling the truth."

"Glad I didn't disappoint you," I reply with a smile.

Raman puts his blaster away and then reaches down into the container, carefully picking up the mask. He holds it in his hands as if he were holding an infant, lightly brushing away a bit of dust that had gathered on its surface. Aathias reaches a hand out and also touches the mask, baffled and amazed by it all.

"Jarik… you led us to find this," Raman says, looking up. "I don't know how we can ever repay you."

"Eh, trying not to hate me so much would be a start," I shrug in response.

He and Aathias both chuckle in response, happier and more carefree than I've ever seen them so far. Aathias reaches a hand out and rests it on my shoulder. She still has her helmet on, but I have a sense of what her expression must be.

"I'm sorry for all of the bitterness we've unfairly shown you," she says softly. "I'm glad to have you as my nephew."

Hearing her say that, and sensing the genuine acceptance of that fact from both her and Raman brings a bit of emotion to me, but I manage to hold back most of it from spilling forth and maintaining my composure, blinking away my moist eyes.

"Thank you, aunt," I say in reply.

I can tell she's smiling at me behind her helmet, and we turn to look at the mask again. I casually brush a hand against the metal, curious about how it feels, but as I do so a sudden pull from the Force yanks me out of the present and straight into a vision. I hear voices fluttering all around me, a series of images I can't make out flashing in my mind.

"Long have I waited…"

I see a dark, shadowy figure sitting on a throne, shrouded in mist. Then it changes to a view of two people onboard a ship of some kind, one of them standing triumphant over the other.

"They tricked me. We were never meant to win this war. They used me and my people to test the Republic's strength."

"Who used you?"

"The Sith."

A series of images float by my gaze, too quick for me to make out. All I manage to see is a figure wreathed in the dark side, several warriors in battle, and a storm of violet lightning.

"I hold the patience of stone and the will of the stars."

"The Sith came to us with an offer: to fight a worthy enemy in a battle that would be remembered forever."

"It wasn't supposed to end like this."

I pull out of the Force vision with a startled gasp, looking around to see I'm still in the same position as before.

"Jarik, are you okay?" Raman asks in concern.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," I reassure them, waving it off.

I remove my hand from the mask and then turn toward the entrance. I'm about to suggest we head out and locate the others before the Force converges on me again with a warning. I whirl around at lightning quick speed, igniting my blue lightsaber just in time to deflect a red blaster bolt aimed right at us. Raman and Aathias jerk around in surprise, both whipping out their blasters and aiming for our assailant.

"Demand: Return the artifact to its resting place, and I'll grant you all a painless death," the assassin droid states fiercely.

The assassin droid is humanoid in shape, similar to what a protocol droid would look like but much more tough and maneuverable. It's chassis is colored a bright orange, and it's optics glow a piercing red. I recognize it as an HK series droid, a design used at some point by the Separatists in the Clone Wars, though they quickly abandoned the idea.

"No thanks," Raman replies sternly.

"Why don't you go back where you came from before I blow a hole through your processor?" Aathias threatens.

"Statement: You amuse me if you think you can accomplish that," the droid responds.

"Well, you certainly have a sense of humor," I remark, narrowing my eyes. "I assume you're the one who released that orbalisk swarm?"

"Answer: You would be correct Jedi," the droid acknowledges with a nod. "You will also soon be dead as well."

"Unlikely," I reply.

"Query: Are you a better challenge than those children from your other group? They were pathetic," the droid scoffs mockingly.

Aathias and Raman's anger spikes drastically, as do my own, but I'm also worried and alarmed as well. Did the droid do anything to the others? I can't sense them to be hurt…

"What did you say?!" Aathias yells.

She opens fire on the assassin droid, charging forwards with an enraged scream, and Raman is quick to follow her. The droid quickly moves to evade the blaster bolts, and fires off his own shots in retaliation. Raman rolls out of the way while Aathias powers through, shifting her stance so that a bolt bounces off her tough shoulder plating. She leaps up high and kicks her foot out, but the droid spins around her with surprising speed and punches her in the back, sending her sprawling.

I dash forwards with my lightsaber raised, but the droid chucks a grenade in my direction. I jump out of the way, but cry out in pain as it releases a sonic wave instead of exploding, catching me off guard. The droid follows up by kicking me in the chest, and I tumble to the ground on my back with a groan. Raman points his arm toward the droid and fires his flamethrower, but he merely walks through the blaze without a care and grabs his wrist. He twists upward, causing Raman to cry out in pain as his arm is bent, and is then lifted up and thrown against a column, losing hold of the mask in the process.

"Analysis: You're even more pathetic than the others," the assassin droid remarks.

He reaches down to pick up the mask, but I've already recovered from the sonic grenade, and toss my lightsaber at him. He whips his head up to see it coming and leans out of the way, allowing the saber to crash harmlessly against the ground and deactivate. I charge forwards and thrust my right arm out, blasting him with the Force to knock him off balance, and then follow up with a punch from my left arm. My metal fist connects with the droid's chassis, and he's sent hurtling across the chamber, getting up after laying there for a second.

"Someone's cocky," I taunt in reply.

"Statement: Your mockery is noted. As is your prosthetic," the droid comments.

He brings his arm back and then swings it outwards, throwing three things in my direction. I pull out my green lightsaber and cut through them which I recognize as explosive pellets, and dash for him once more. I slash my lightsaber down to cut him in half and he sidesteps, a weapon unveiling itself on his arm as he swings it in my direction. I raise my left arm to shove it to the side, allowing the repulsor blast to shoot harmlessly into the air, and jab my lightsaber towards him. However the droid twists away from my blade and then delivers a fierce jab with his knee that knocks the saber out of my hand.

Aathias and Raman leap back into action, tackling either side of the assassin droid while I sprint forward to smash into him with my left shoulder. The assassins droid stumbles backward before ducking his head as Aathias shoots a bolt at him. Raman aims his arm toward the droids head, preparing to fire an explosive dart, but the droids grabs his arm once more and twists around, throwing him into Aathias so that they both collapse onto the floor.

"Observation: You two are past your prime," he remarks.

I swing my left arm to punch the droid once more, but this time he's ready and reaches out, blocking my fist with his hand. I grit my teeth as we shove against her, but at the same time I catch sight of something engraved into the droids chassis, near the neck. An identification number.

HK-47.

I widen my eyes in surprise and bewilderment, instantly recognizing the droid for who he is. My revelation comes at a cost however, as HK swings his other arm forward and slugs me in the jaw, sensing me sprawling to the ground. I let out a groan of pain as I hit the stone floor, my jaw aching from the hit. Metal footsteps move closer to me, and HK grabs me from behind and lifts me into the air, his hand around my throat.

"Statement: It's been a while since I had the chance of battling a Jedi. I'm almost sad to end your life," he comments casually.

"Yeah, a long while," I manage to say, grimacing as I hold onto his arm. "Back when you hung out with Revan?"

HK stills in his movements, his red optics focusing on me.

"Query: Excuse me?" he asks suspiciously.

"You heard me," I reply with a grunt. "HK-47. Revan's favorite, or least favorite however you look at it, droid companion. The only person you genuinely respected."

Another moment passes, and then HK releases his hold on me. I land in a crouch and take in several breaths of air, only for a blaster to be leveled by my head.

"Annoyed query: Is there a point to your rambling about Revan?" he demands.

"There is," I reply, scoffing lightly.

I take notice of Raman and Aathias preparing another attack, but I raise a hand out to stop them, much to their confusion. HK notices their movements as well, keeping them well in his sights while focusing down on me as well.

"As it turns out, I happen to be Revan's last living descendant," I tell the droid, looking up at him.

"Statement: Ridiculous. You're just trying to save your own life in a pitiful attempt to fool me," HK retorts disbelievingly.

"Would you like me to prove it to you?" I ask him.

HK stares down at me for several seconds, and then lifts his other and toward me.

"Musing: The most effective way would be for me to test that theory. Give me your hand," he says.

Getting an idea of what he wants, I pull off my right glove and hold my hand up to him. He grabs it, rather unforgivingly I might say, and unveils a small, thin blade from one of his fingers, which he uses to scratch my hand hard enough to draw a drop of blood. I grimace at the pinching sensation, and he then shoves my arm away from him. Keeping his blaster leveled at my face, he goes through some sort of scan that he apparently has installed, taking a while to do so.

"Jarik, are you crazy?" Raman snaps.

"Just trust me," I say reassuringly.

"Request: Please shut up so I can finish this in silence," HK says.

"I'm tempted to shut him up first," Aathias growls, but stays her hand.

Eventually after what feels like forever, HK looks back down at me with gleaming red optics, his analysis complete.

"Analysis: It seems you are indeed the descendant of Revan," he remarks, and I allow myself to hope a little. "Honestly, that is not enough to save your life."

I tense up, about to call my lightsaber to my hand while Raman and Aathias prepare to spring forward to my defense. Without warning however, HK lowers his blaster and takes a step back.

"Statement: Unfortunately, my orders were to allow any descendant of Revan to obtain Mandalore's Mask, should they come seeking for it," he says, sounding annoyed by the fact.

I raise an eyebrow at him, scoff lightly, and get to my feet. Raman and Aathias seem more relaxed as well now after hearing that.

"I'm guessing Canderous gave you that order?" I ask him.

"Answer: Correct," HK replies, staring at me. "And I hate it."

"Well, nothing I can do about that," I shrug in reply.

"Suggestion: You could let me kill you," he offers.

"I think you're smart enough to know my answer," I retort.

Raman and Aathias move over to me, still tense but feeling that the danger is gone. However HK suddenly swivels around time face them with his blaster raised, ready to fire.

"Hey! Put it down!" I shout incredulously.

"Statement: I'm ordered to eliminate any who seek Mandalore's Mask. Especially Mandalorians," he replies.

"What?!" Aathias exclaims angrily.

"The mask belongs to Mandalore!" Raman adds in frustration.

"Rebuttal: Canderous insisted that a Mandalorian not be the one to retrieve it until they've overcome their weakness," he retorts. "You have not, and are not related to Revan, so therefore you must be eliminated."

"HK, you better put that down or else I'll try your circuits to a crisp," I threaten.

"Protest: I am supposed to-" he starts to say.

"Yeah, I get it!" I interrupt irritably. "But I'm here, I'm a descendant of Revan, and I have acquired the mask. These Mandalorians, if I'm correct in your meaning, have overcome their weakness. And since I will now be taking the mask, you have no more reason to kill anyone here."

HK remains unmoving, his blaster remaining pointed at Raman and Aathias while they have their own weapons out, but he thankfully backs down after a long pause.

"Musing: Your argument is sound… as disappointing as it may be," he tells me.

"Thank you," I say with a sigh, exhausted.

Raman and Aathias cautiously lower their blasters, but still keep hold of them as a precaution. I reach out with the Force and pull my lightsabers over to me, clipping them on my belt, while also grabbing Mandalore's Mask from its position on the ground. HK-47 steps over to me, and I stop moving, but instead of attacking he hands me some sort of data drive.

"Statement: Canderous Ordo also wanted me to give Revan's descendant this hard drive. It contains video footage that would reveal there was never any need for hostilities between Revan and Mandalore," he informs me.

I take the disk from him with interest, looking it over for a moment before nodding.

"Thanks," I tell him.

I look over and hold out Mandalore's Mask to Raman, keeping an eye on HK as I do so. Thankfully he doesn't react when Raman takes it, he and Aathias remaining a cautious distance from the assassin droid.

Looking around, I spot the two pieces of my holocron that I dropped when Freedon Nadd first showed up, and use the Force to collect them. Pulling my holocron out of my belt pouch, I reconnect the pieces and store it away, satisfied with the mission. Just then the sound of beating wings and jetpacks come echoing out of the tunnel entrance, soon followed by the other half of our party. Relief fills me at the sight of nobody being seriously hurt, although the lack of two people fills me with some concern.

"Dad!" Mara calls out.

"There's the walking trash pile!" Crassus yells.

The three Mandalorians whip out their blasters, Toothless also growling and preparing a plasma blast while HK pulls out his weapons, ready for a fight.

"Hold it! HOLD IT!" I shout, jumping in between them all.

"What are you doing?!" Crassus demands incredulously.

"Request: Please, let me eliminate them-" HK starts to say.

"Hah! You can try!" Kira shouts in response.

"Nobody is 'eliminating' anyone!" I yell fiercely, glaring at both sides. "There's no need for that!"

"This metal freak tried to kill us!" Astrid exclaims.

Toothless lets out an angry snark of agreement, and R5 also chimes in his support of the statement with several angry beeps.

"Correction: You mean 'would' have killed you," HK retorts.

"You're not helping!" I snap angrily, glaring at the assassin droid.

"Dad, what's the deal here?" Mara asks, baffled and uneasy.

"We don't have to fear this assassin droid anymore," Raman says as he steps forward, though not without a suspicious glance toward HK. "At least I hope not."

"Statement: I would be happy to kill all of you meatbags, but I can only do so with his permission," HK says irritably, gesturing towards me.

"Huh?" Hiccup asks, confused.

"Ok, since when did you become the boss of murder bot?" Mara asks in bewilderment.

"Long story short, HK-47 here was assigned by Canderous Ordo to protect the mask from anyone who would take it, and only a descendant of Revan could claim it from him," I explain, exhausted. "And we have the mask."

All eyes turned towards Raman, who is still holding the mask, disbelief and amazement filling them at the sight.

"Where's Logan and Kayli?" Aathias asks worriedly.

"Answer: The male Mandalorian sustained an injury on his leg, and so the female stayed with him to provide support," HK answers.

"What did you do to him?!" Aathias demands.

"It wasn't him, it happened when the tunnel collapsed," Shae explains.

"Musing: Well objectively speaking, I caused the tunnel to collapse, therefore I am responsible," HK remarks in content.

A series in angry glares are directed his way, and I shake my head.

"Not helping your case HK," I say irritably.

"Query: Does it look like I care about hurting you meatbags?" he replies.

"Never thought I'd see a machine acting like a psychopath," Hiccup murmurs to Astrid.

Two more people coming out of the tunnel get our attention, and we look over to see Logan and Kayli drop to the ground and turn off their jetpacks, the latter helping the former to land softly.

"Observation: See? Your friend is perfectly fine," HK says.

"Ugh," Kira groans, rolling her eyes.

"You two alright?" Aathias asks in concern.

"We're fine," Kayli assures us.

"Query: Someone has been trying to establish contact. Would you like me to stop jamming you?" HK asks.

"What?" Crassus asks.

"Oh for the love of Morai, yes! Please!" I exclaim in aggravation, running a hand over my face.

And I thought R5 was a nightmare…

A few seconds pass before Raman's comlink starts to beep, and he answers it. A holographic image of Jovani pops up, much to our curiosity.

"Raman! Thank Ordo you finally answered," he says, seemingly uptight.

Raman notices it as well.

"We're doing just fine Jovani," he replies, concerned. "Is something wrong?"

"Very much so," Jovani replies with a grim expression. "The Empire is here."

I widen my eyes in alarm, horror filling me as the rest of the group is taken by surprise, shocked at hearing that.

"What?" Raman asks, alarmed.

"We received a call from Countess Wren. Somehow word got out that Jarik Shan is with us," he explains.

"Are you sure?" he asks intensely.

"A Star Destroyer is already in orbit. I've just sent Hadrian to activate the defensive shields," Jovani informs us.

"They're gonna send a lot more than just one Star Destroyer for me," I say anxiously.

Raman nods in agreement.

"Alright. Okay. I need you to evacuate the entire clan. Get everyone out of the system," Raman orders firmly. "Make way for the safe haven."

"What about the rest of you?" Jovani asks.

"We'll be joining you shortly," he reassures him. "Raman out."

Raman cuts off the transmission, and immediately the group launches into panicked discussion. I push down my fears and turn to HK instead, giving him a fierce and pleading look.

"Do you know a way out of the tomb?" I demand.

"Answer: There is another pathway not far from here," he confirms.

"Take us there, fast," I urge him.

I.S.D. Relentless - Japrael System

3rd person POV...

Admiral Konstantine stands at the head of the bridge of his Star Destroyer, hands behind his back with a confident smile of smug satisfaction plastered across his face. Today is the day where he finally gains the recognition and respect he deserves in the Empire, by eliminating the pesky Jedi called Jarik Shan. He looks out at the horizon of the jungle moon that his ship is hovering over, taking some amusement in the fact that his enemies have no idea what is about to hit them.

"We have pinpointed the location of the Mandalorian Outpost, Admiral," a technician reports.

"Excellent. Target the outpost and fire with maximum power," he orders with a smile.

"Sir, I must inform you that-" he starts to reply.

"It doesn't matter, just do as I say!" Konstantine interrupts with a frown.

"Y-yes, Admiral," the technician replies submissively, withholding his frustration in fear of what would happen if he spoke out of line.

As Konstantine basks in the glory that is inches from his grasp, Agent Kallus watches him from afar at the holotable across the bridge, his expression grim and worried. Konstantine is being careless, as he expected, and isn't bothering to review any important details that might determine whether this is a victory or a miserable failure; he also came out of hyperspace in such a manner that the Mandalorians down on the surface surely are aware of what he is attempting to do right now, and if not, then Jarik most definitely does, and is preparing for it adequately.

No, what has Kallus worried is what will happen when Grand Admiral Thrawn and Lord Vader arrive to deal with the situation.

"Target is locked," the technician reports.

Konstantine grins triumphantly.

"Fire!" he orders.

Author's Note: Oh Konstantine, you silly, arrogant Imperial Officer. I'm sure his reaction will be priceless when he realizes things are about to go horribly wrong for him. Especially when Thrawn and Vader realize what he's just done... We all know what Vader does to officers that can't do their jobs properly.

Jarik and his family have found Mandalore's Mask in the tomb! And it seems they've picked up a new ally, more accurately a very untrustworthy and dangerous ally, in the form of Revan's former droid HK-47! I'm sure many who know about Revan are familiar with this sadistic psychopath of a droid. He'll give even R5-S7 nightmares, honestly. But now they are all racing to prepare for the worst, now that the Empire has discovered Jarik's location and is sending their full might.

Next chapter will definitely be uploaded more quickly. It's mostly a battle sequence, so I know exactly where I want to go with it: coming up with dialogue and directions of the story is much tougher than writing action scenes, honestly lol. Things will definitely be very intense next chapter... Vader is out for blood.

New Addition: Something else I want to add: I recently created a new "Fandom" WIKI page for the Shaniverse! I remember a review mentioned the idea, and I thought about it for a little while. Last year I tried doing a website, but that didn't work out because it was too many work to keep up with. But the Fandom site makes things easier, so I decided to give it a try! I've barely started work on it, and I'm still figuring out how everything works, but it's definitely easier to manage than a WIX site. As I understand it, Fandom sites also allow for other people to contribute their own work to WIKI's as well (not sure how that works, but sounds fun), so if you're curious about that or just simply want to browse the WIKI then you're more than welcome to do so!

IRL: shaniverse.fandom.com