"Great strides are being made, I assure you," the scientist fervently insisted. "We have been working around the clock."

"Good," The Huntress told him. "Keep it up. We don't have long."

The number of programmers had doubled in the last few days and more were on their way from all over the former Empire. Apparently the New Republic wasn't paying very well, so those seeking a legitimate paycheck had few options.

All around her she could feel the dark presence in the walls of the Gangrene, flowing through every cable and duct, and it made her wonder if it knew what she was planning.

She buried those feelings as deeply as she could and turned her attention back to the workers in front of her.

"Your master needs you. Double your efforts!" she called out, though most of them already had bags under their eyes.

"Ma'am?"

She turned to see someone new calling to her from the doorway, not one of the faceless crew members, but an Infiltrator.

"Shouldn't you be planetside?"

"I couldn't risk sending a transmission," she told the Huntress. "There is something you need to know."


"I can't imagine spending one more moment sitting around doing nothing," said Uldiers, the Infiltrator Boot had spoken to in the hallway.

Most of the room stood up and applauded, but a significant contingent kept their hands firmly at their sides.

"The Huntress has been keeping us collared for way too long and I'm not standing for it," he shouted. "I don't know about you, but I plan on ripping off Teller Vonn's scrawny head, cutting him apart and using the crown of his skull as a soup bowl."

Boot noticed that it was the men and women with the most markings that cheered in solidarity, more intricate violet symbols over the smooth pinkish armor, which supposedly corresponded to battles and wars they had fought in.

The silent members were slowly starting to trickle out, and Boot got a sinking feeling in his stomach that his plan was falling apart.

The Infiltrators may have at one point seemed like great candidates, but up close they acted more like bloodthirsty marauders than Mandalorians.

"Once I'm done feeding his ribs to my kath hounds, I'll drain the fluid from his spine, fill it with wax and use it as a candle. It can go right next to my trandoshan skin rug and my gundark leather couch."

Boot finally stood up and motioned to Uldiers. "We will be in touch," he told him, before stepping out of the room. Things were getting a bit too intense for his taste.

"You think you can bring down the Blood Battalion from the inside?" came a sudden voice, as soon as he rounded a corner.

Three more Infiltrators stood before him, clearly some of the ones who were not happy with Uldiers and his bloodlust.

"The Huntress will know of your betrayal, Mandalorian."

"She can know anything. I'd like to see her act on it."

The three stepped closer to him, but rather than draw their weapons they simply walked past.

That left the Mandalorian alone to ponder a nagging question. What use would this new legion of loyal defectors serve?

"They could make decent cannon fodder," he whispered, as he headed for the exit to the Blood Battalion's headquarters. "But it would be a waste of manpower."

Both he and Mandalore knew that fifty soldiers, even Mandalorians, couldn't hold the entire city of Davn. They needed the Blood Battalion to fall in line behind them.

For a moment, it almost made him jealous of the Rabble. Half of their soldiers lacked basic armor and most of their weapons were older than the men and women carrying them, but the Rabble were ferociously loyal and they had enough bodies to keep the streets clean and the citizens in line.

"I knew I should have gone back to bounty hunting."

However, just as he made it to the front gates, a sound in the background confirmed to him that everything was about to go horribly wrong.

It was blaster fire inside one of the buildings.