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Love Fiction, you always there for me fam. lol
Light from a setting sun casting a red and orange hue on the cave walls, it seems metal veins in the rocks almost like blood flowing deeper into the unremarkable entrance. The cave was humming with the dull thrum of echoing voices and music. It was pitch black inside the cave ahead of him. He was afraid to go in alone, but as he called out the only answer was the voices inside the cave. A softer set of notes from a flute seemed to come up and help him in, unsure feet stepping deeper at the familiarity of the sound. A woman's voice singing the lullaby Anra sang to him. With more hurried steps he waddled deeper into the cave, chasing the song. Voices seemed to be coming from all the different holes in the walls of the cave, some nice, some mean, and others just as curious about him as he was of them. The woman's voice was closer, and he felt more sure of himself on his feet. He was still little, he understood that, but as he ran forward he felt like he was getting bigger. He wanted to keep Dad safe, he wanted to keep Anra safe, and he couldn't do that if he stayed little forever. The chanting voices were louder, his heart beat racing in time to the song, and he felt like he was closer to family, to home. The cave should be pitch black but instead it was glowing brightly, lights like stars covering the cave walls he could see them, and as he ran towards them more and more seemed to support him, to cheer him on.
The lights began to form into lifeforms, bright shapes echoing their living selves, their battle chants urging him forward. He found himself in front of the man whose helmet Anra had brought with her. A warm smile as the man held out his hand towards him, a simple little black stone in the man's hand, offering it to him. His claws reached up, trying to take it.
"Hey there little one, you'll hurt yourself running off like that. Good thing your papa is asleep, he'd pop his helm over this stunt." Vim chuckled as he easily scooped Pirpak up, his wide eyes opening and he looked at his small hands again, looking around to see that he was outside in the grassy field, the sky full of bright stars as the village lights were out. "You're like Andora aren't ya?" Vim hummed out, still holding the baby to his chest as he took a spot on a nearby stone with practiced ease. "Her brother and her used to sleepwalk out here all the time too. Same exact spot." Vim looked up at the sky, pointing out a light. "That's Mandalore, you were reaching out for it just like them." Pirpak looked up at the spot he was pointing out, trying to repeat the word Mandalore. It was full of sounds that were hard to put together. "It's where Mandalorians started from. The Taung, the original Mandalorians, claimed it as their home when they were forced from Coruscant. There's a bunch of stuff that happened between, but eventually Mandalore the First claimed it as our home, and we took up the name mandalorian in his honor. We are all children of Mandalore if we choose to walk the path of the warrior." Vim took a deep breath, remembering this so many times before. His wife, his sons, his grandchildren, and he had the misfortune of out living all of them but one. He held the small green bundle to his chest. "Your dad hasn't seen it yet, but you're gonna walk this path. It's picked you as much as you pick it, let's just hope it's kinder to you." With an aged groan Vim stood up, walking them back towards the home. Inside the small convert Vim can hear Din starting to move about in the room. Vim set the kid down on a pillow as he started putting on his armor.
Pirpak was still a bit disoriented from his dream, not feeling like he slept at all. The soft singing was still in his ears, and he followed it back into a different hallway. He hopped up and grabbed the handle, the handle turning and the door swinging open into a room. There were armors on the walls, skulls, and other hunting trophies. Dropping from the handle Pirpak walked towards the back end of the room, a piece of fabric covering the back wall.
"Hey now, making Abr come get you twice in a row isn't very nice." (Grandpa) Vim sighed as he walked into the room after him. "If we have time I'll show you all my prizes later. But right now we have to get back to the meetings." Pirpak just looked up, his clawed hands on the fabric covering the back wall. Din had followed after the older man when he had started looking around for Pirpak. Pirpak's eyes light up at seeing his father awake again, gripping the fabric hard in excitement before running towards Din. With a heavy thud the fabric hit the stone floor, exposing the large display case filled with 20 cylindrical objects, all about as long as a typical sword handle. Some were longer or shorter, but all had the same general look. Din looked at the objects, not recognizing them as Pirpak crawled on him. "We have to get a move on soldiers, we'll discuss this later." Vim said a bit more firmly, tossing the fabric back on the trophy case.
Din noted the agitation in Vim's voice, slowly following his host out of the home into an early dawn, the sun just about cresting the horizon as other armored persons left the little homes to head back towards the center of town for another long day of politics.
Senator Ordot was pacing nervously. He had tried contacting his nephews for days now to check if what Gideon had said was true. Nothing. Not so much as a peep, or even a busy signal. It just was nothing. More protesters were in the city center today to decry the reopening of the mines, with a number of people from other political parties all agreeing that this was bad for the environment or finding out about the mine collapse. Even others at the Republic Senate were questioning if it was a smart move since there was no industry that was using the metal, and it was too controversial to use as a currency due to the work of historians like Andora and others had done for relic recovery to help stop the destruction of artifacts that had been stolen during the Imperial era. It had been a massive bill passed by many of the planets that had suffered greatly under the Empire, all agreeing to help support the preservation of cultural and historical relics.
His aides had been really hesitant to help him organize the announcement speech, and without any endorsement or reassurance he was considering calling the whole thing off. Now that Kahl was gone it seemed his supporters had silently pulled back, and that made him even more nervous. He had hoped that his good will gestures at the funeral would have earned some of their support but no, it was as if they had all left the city, and he was feeling his support slip now that there was no one to contrast himself with.
"Senator, what should we do?" The aide that had spoken was patiently awaiting something to do since all the senator had done for a few hours now was pace. He was acting odd, and pushing against any suggestions they made, not even meeting with his constituents to discuss what was going on. The Senators' behavior was setting off warning bells for the aides.
"I need to be alone right now. A family matter has come up." Ordot dismissed them, looking like he was calling that secured line again. The Aide looked at the plans Andora had sent them almost two months ago, hands tightening on the data pad as they marched off, remembering the reporter that had been asking for some information on what had happened at the start of the whole affair. If the Senator wasn't going to act in the people's best interest, someone had to.
"...shell of a man…" The woman's voice whispered in a sinister tone to her, Andora's eyes fluttering open as she tried to process the voice.
"What did you say?" Andora reached up to her head, it spinning from the tranquilizer.
"...your people fought their last battle…a quiet death..."
"What do you mean..what quiet death?" Andora was trying to focus on the world around her, slowly standing as she walked towards the voice.
"...easily slain...all that remains…their armor...their code...history" The voice was snickering, her visions of the city devoid of life, dead bodies littering the streets, and it all as silent as the void of space. New horrible images in her mind of empty armors, like back on Navarro.
"Shut up! It's not true! I won't let it be true!" She felt herself slam into the glass walls of her case, slamming her hands on it violently, hearing it shake with the pain in her heart.
"The dark side of the force..it clouds our vision." The male voice cut through the woman's taunting, seeming to send her voice back to a low hum. The visions became blurry and faded, letting Andora see the room she was in, the artifact room. Looking around she realized she was in a display case, the lid sealed shut. It hadn't happened yet. She had time to stop the visions from happening. "It's what's good for the galaxy." The male voice said accusingly to her, that getting her blood boiling again. "If the prophecy is true."
"I won't let the Mandalorians end. I won't, we deserve to live!" She was trying to open the lid, its magnetic lock not budging in the slightest. "Tenn!" (Open!)
"Test your resolve...Let us find out who is right." The declaration was powerful, and she felt her energy bubbling up once again. "Focus on the weak point...follow your sight in the Force...channel your fear into courage...your anger into anticipation...and your hate into love...redirect the darkness into light." She tried, really she did, her heart pounding as she tried to focus on the words this voice spoke to her, her vision seeing the spiderweb once more in the glass around her. She followed where these lines focused, exerting everything she had on that point, the crack forming, the familiar chiming jingle of the glass breaking, it coming undone, about to rupture.
"Not a second time." Any thoughts she had were wiped as the blinding pain of the shock collar kicked in. She crumpled to her knees, curling in on herself as she suffered from electricity coursing through her body. Grakkus was back, bandages covering his entire front half, and he seemed to be wearing medical goggles over his eyes. "What a dirty trick to play on me, pretending to be a simple historian. But I have seen you now girl… and I will make you a part of my collection forever. A true Mandalorian Jedi for my exhibit." He was staying away from the glass but still circled her like she was prey. "I wonder how long you can handle the shocks before your heart gives out?" Grakkus said softly, more to himself than to Andora. He pressed the button again, watching her writhe in pain as vindication for his own suffering. He would have preferred throwing her in the ring, but last time he had done that, the Jedi had escaped, and he had been arrested. No chances this time. When the timer on the collar ran out he watched her limbs twitching, seeing her eyes full of hatred glaring at him. "That's two."
"What do we do? I can see into his office, she won't last long with the shocks he's giving her." Cara was patched into the security cameras through the guard tower station she had taken over. The Armorer was still on her ship, the two chatting over a com link channel.
"We need a diversion." The Armorer spoke calmly. "Can you get to her?" Cara could hear the engines humming back to full as they spoke.
"If all the guards are busy, yeah. It's an easy enough spot to reach. Has nice big windows I can bust through no problem." She had a large heavy artillery blaster on her back, her armor on, and some war paint to help hide her face. She had some grenades and circuit over loaders for other obstacles, along with a good old fashioned rope and grapple hook. "How are we going to distract th-" Before she could finish Cara heard the roar of an engine as the ship they were flying started blasting into the arena building in a bomber run, huge chunks of the building getting holes blasted into it. Craters in the grounds, and a massive alarm sounding. Seems like her friend had some highly illegal long burning artillery as the building caught fire from the liquid that was splashed everywhere. There hadn't been a fight tonight so the fighting arena had been empty, but the damage was causing the alarms to go off, and all the people were rushing to look while others were trying to get airborne to go after the enemy ship.
"That should keep them busy. Go." Cara didn't need to be told twice, she dropped from the guard tower onto the perimeter wall and started running towards the main building. Her armor helped her blend in for the night time raid, and her training with the rebels made it easy for her to carry the heavy blaster's weight. The screech of engines as small atmosphere ships rose up and after the Armorer's ship helped deafen the scream of the guard that she ran into as she slammed her weight into them, pinning them to the ground in a sweep to take advantage of her momentum, pivoting on her knee, which was buried in the guards chest, and snapping his neck with her other legs rotating with her full armored weight as she finished the maneuver in a low crouch which she used to help hide herself from the aircrafts darting overhead. Hearing the ships move ahead she stood up and finished her run towards the entrance, shifting her shoulders to roll the blaster into position as she started shooting the guards by the door before they recognized the threat, their bodies flying over the railing to the ground two stories below. Her heart was pumping in excitement, the combat high kicking in as she popped a lock breaker on the door and charged through, rolling between open spots in the hallways, cradling the blaster to her chest to prevent it stopping her flow. Most people were running to escape the building since they didn't know if another bombing run was being made. Since they ignored her she ignored them, shoving past them as she took the lift up, others rushing down the stairs. Back against the wall she crouched low, ready to take out counter forces when the lift opened. As soon as the doors opened there was some blaster fire, it all aimed at chest height since they had expected an untrained opponent. She rolled into a position on her stomach and used the weight and her shoulder to help brace the kickback as she unloaded into the surprised guards. The three dropped to the ground, Cara smirking as she jumped up and rushed to the large ornate doors. She silently pushed them open, blaster up and pointed in the direction she could hear Andora's exhausted cries from. She put a disruptor on the door lock, making sure she wouldn't get caught from behind.
"Drop the remote slug!" Grakkus looked over at her, his cybernetic limbs stomping in anger. "Drop it or I shoot." Cara growled again, not looking at Andora. Her eyes firmly fixed on the massive Hutt. She could see the polished blade finish to his legs, and she did not want to be caught by surprise. His hand let the remote drop, it clacking to the floor as he extended to his full height. "Back away slowly." He took a step back except for one leg, the point of the leg stabbing the remote, it overloading Andora's collar. The blood curdling scream was an agonized pitch before her body went limp, only twitching from the high voltage.
"Whoops, clumsy me." He was smirking as much as he could with the amount of bandages to his face. Cara snarled as she shot a bolt into the slug, or at least where he was supposed to be. He was fast! She had to roll to avoid his massive weight slamming her, or the points of his legs as he barreled past her in the room. He stopped before he hit one of the display cases, giving Cara an idea. She rushed to jump up onto a stand, taking shots at him as he moved, the sound of glass breaking as the shots missed, the clacking of his legs louder as he rushed to swipe her off the vantage point. "Stop shooting my collection you worthless human!" Cara was about to blast Grakkus in the face point blank when suddenly her right arm went limp from pain, taking a blaster bolt to the limb. Cosh had been in the back section of the room trying to figure out what had been going on outside, but was now coming to his Master's defence. Cara was swept off the case and onto the floor. Grakkus walked over ready to deliver a death blow with his leg to her skull, Cara reaching down for the grenade at her belt, holding it up with her hand on the pin.
"You wretched little human…" Grakkus hissed, not willing to risk the grenade going off in the room. "I will hunt down everyone you have ever known and loved if you pull that pin!" Cara cast her eyes around the room, both men's attention on her. Neither noticed Andora's limping form as she approached the slug. With a smirk Cara looked up at Grakkus before tossing the grenade towards Cosh who dived on it to try and disarm it. "NO!" Grakkus rose up till he was only on his back four cybernetic legs, getting ready to slam into her with his full weight. His face, contorted in rage, swiftly turned into a look of agony as his energy was rapidly being drained from him. Cara rolled out of the way as the slug slammed down, watching in shock as Andora was clutching his flesh, the Hutt screaming and trying to reach behind and pull her free only for him to seemingly melt into the floor as his fighting stopped.
Andora was panting heavily, her entire body so far past pain she wasn't entirely sure she was still connected to it anymore. She needed to survive, and she had pulled energy from the Hutt to do it. Her hands reached up and ripped the collar off, the shocking effect seemingly no longer registering with her overstimulated nerves. Everything was so clear, she felt like everything was in slow motion as she heard the small click, click timer of the grenade as the mechanism was about to trigger. She couldn't let it blow up in here. The relics needed to be protected. With a skill not her own her hand snapped out in front of her, a twisting motion of her fingers and wrist as she picked up the grenade and Cosh, tossing them both out the window, the explosion sending a concussion wave that shattered all the remaining display cases, a wave of heat that should have hurt rolling over them before it fizzed out.
Cara was terrified as Andora looked around with acid yellow eyes, seeing the display of power absolutely frightened her. It had already been creepy when the kid had somehow choked her with just his will but that. It wasn't right. Andora blinked, her eyes returning to their green hue as she slumped onto the ground, not really feeling the glass cutting her legs and feet. Cara shook herself out of it. She'd deal with weird magic later, right now she had to get out before the explosion drew guards up here.
"I've got her, windows are open for extraction if you can." Cara wasn't sure what to do about touching Andora. Seeing as what touching her did to the slug, she wasn't eager to try it herself.
"Just getting them off my six. Be ready." Cara could hear the sound of the ships guns blasting their targets, hearing echoes of the same blasts with her own ears. She was close. Turning around to pick up Andora, Cara cursed as she saw the bloody trail that walked through the room towards a set of armor. She rushed in, seeing Andora's bleeding injuries closing up into smooth skin again. Andora was pulling the armor down from the case, tossing some of the pieces away as she put it on.
"Oh for Kriff's sake hurry up! We are gonna have company." It would have been fascinating to watch as Andora rapidly slipped into the full set if not for the shouts of people outside the door.
"I can't leave him behind!" It didn't fit right, too big from the height difference but that didn't seem to matter. Wearing a helmet now Andora turned to Cara, nodding silently as she moved to the two glowing shapes, grabbing them with her as she got perched on the window sill, ready to jump. They could see the ship coming in hot, its shield deflecting shot after shot as it turned on its side, trying to protect its loading doors. They were opened up, Cara forcing her injured arm to keep working as the door broke in, shooting suppressing fire at the guards. Andora jumped into the ship, the heavy metal clank of her landing giving Cara her cue to join. Tucking into the jump, Cara bit her lip to stifle her pain as the doors closed and the ship made a reckless twist skyward, flying close to the Hutt ship to avoid taking excessive fire before jumping to hyperspace as soon as it cleared the ship. It was a short jump, the ship not having a chance to correct its position. They were in an empty space, giving them some time to come to terms with what they had just survived. Cara sat up, hissing as she clutched her arm. It was not the first time she had been shot, but it always sucked. Andora started to strip back out of the armor she had taken, slumping against the wall in a daze. Cara was a bit confused, Andora's hair had been much shorter and pure red but now her locks were down to her waist, and a rich brown color, with the bottom half still dyed red. The Armorer came over, med kit at the ready and moving to Cara first as she told Andora where the shower was. The other woman numbly nodded, helping herself to the compartment. The Armorer easily removed the pauldron and chest piece of Cara's body armor, the med kit spread open as she started to treat the unsightly burn where the blisters were forming underneath burnt skin. Biting down on some fabric Cara endured getting the burnt flesh removed so the bacta could be rubbed onto the blistering skin below.
"It'll scar." Even through the modulator Cara could hear the apologetic tone.
"I know. Not my first one." She was focused on her breathing to stop herself from hyperventilating or going into shock. Feeling the blissful relief of the bacta cream on her skin Cara moaned, just wanting to lay down and recover.
"We can stop on Navarro to let you get treatment." It was a bit out of the way, but her role in this was over. No need to push her while she was injured, the Armorer had seen enough soldiers die from infected injuries to know that it was flirting with disaster.
"No, I have to talk to Mando about something." Cara didn't want to mention the strangeness she saw from Andora while trapped on a ship with her. They could hear the water flowing as Andora washed, Cara feeling a bit bad for not trusting the woman as she could hear stifled sobs. The Armorer finally noticed the pile of things that were taken off on her ship, a gasp as she recognized that crest. She walked over, seeing the smeared blood. Without a word she collected the armor and began her work of cleaning and properly caring for the items. The water stopped and after a few moments they saw Andora come back wrapped in just a towel.
"Any chance you can spare something to wear. I don't feel like heading into a war in a slave outfit."
Din had slept, but he was still struggling to stay focused, feeling every fiber of him agitated with this whole process and more interested in getting more intel from the prisoners to try and figure out what to do. It had been hours of debate and posturing, and dredging up old issues with each other. It was nearly lunch, Din trying to keep the kid fed. For some reason the kid had been listening attentively, and it made Din wonder if the little guy understood more than he let on. At some point the kid had been focusing his gaze up towards the ceiling, as if he could sense something coming. A young kid from the village rushed over as discreetly as he could to Vim, whispering something to the veteran, Vim telling Din to say as he went to go deal with the issue. It seems that Vim really was the security for this little village. It was a while before Vim came back, The veteran was easily six feet in his armor, but the person who stepped in behind him was a foot taller, scales glistening in the low light, sharp vicious teeth seemingly bared in a permanent grin. The reptilian being had bright red irises with a vertical slit that dilated to the lower light in the room from the bright exterior. The alien was wearing armor on top of her simple dress, the spear that was serving as her walking stick was her height. Behind her was another reptilian creature, this one seemed to be about five and a half feet, this one also wearing armor, but much to everyone's horror they could see human jaw bones embedded in it. The older female turned and seemed to be gently hissing to the smaller one, waiting till the smaller one squared her shoulders and moved to walk behind Vim as the larger one followed. The smaller one was wearing a set of beige robes under the armor. Din noticed a small metal necklace on the smaller one's neck, it clicking into place. Barabels. This larger female must be Zalle...and the younger one was wearing Andora's old armor. Vim gestured for them to join him and Din. Pirpak's eyes were wide, a big smile on his face as he crawled towards the newcomers at their table.
"Oya!" (Hello) Pirpak chirped out, little claws reaching out. The younger barabel seemed to turn excitedly towards his son, Din worried his son was in danger.
"Oya katdra'ne resa." (Hello little light.) The entire room except Vim was shocked at this. This alien just walked in and started speaking in Mando'a. The speeches were all half hearted and distracted, nervous glances to the newcomers. After lunch it was Clan Vizsla, of House Vizsla's turn. Vim stood in his full armor, shoulders squared waiting till everyone was looking at him, which wasn't hard as his corner was now filled with two Barabels and a Mando with his baby.
"Clan Vizsla has over 3,000 warriors from our allies the Barabels. They are here as a favor to repay a war debt to my bu'ad for helping them when she was just a child on their planet. My bu'ad helped them fight off the Empire when she was barely 14, wearing just the armor this little one is wearing now. My bu'ad has fought and killed more combatants before turning 16 than many of you have in your whole career." (Grandchild) Vim paused, placing his hand reassuringly on the younger Barabel's shoulder.
"She's not here, you can't vote for someone that's not here!" Came a frustrated shout from the other side of the room, a deep rumble emitted by the larger Barabel quickly silencing the interruption.
"She's not my pick, if you would shut yer yap I could finish." That caused a murmur of confusion among the room, Din wondering if it was the older or younger Barabel he was voting for. "My bu'ad is missing because she risked her life to save the honor of her pick." Din felt like the world just spun under him. "I cast the vote for the Death watch tribe on Navarro, the vote for Clan Reka and their cohort of 3,000 warriors, and Clan Vizsla, for the Alor of Clan Mudhorn as Mand'alor till we defeat Moff Gideon." Din stood up, seeing everyone looking at him.
"The Barabels don't get a vote." It was the same man speaking up again. Everyone watched as the larger Barabel stood up and walked over, picking the man in his armor up and off the ground easily, dangling him like a child.
"Narir gar athu'neha akaan'ade at akaan?" (Did you bring an army to the war?) She asked in a hissed out version of Mando'a. The man shook his head no, the Barabel dropping him to the ground, watching him fall on his backside. "Dr vie catuya jatur sto." (Then our vote is worth more.)
"So by my count that's three for Clan Mudhorn, any other takers?" Vim sounded eager to end this meaningless talk. A few more hands raised around the room, Vim knew he could count on them. A majority vote was cast in his favor.
"To our new Mand'alor!" Vim held up Din's arm, a loud hu-rah filling the room as the groups began to stand and move since the voting had ended.
End Chapter