Part One

The Hunter

A world where Tarro Blood wasn't the Hunter's rival.

Republic cruiser Aurora

"Don't do it. She's not worth it."

Zassos, a blue-skinned Chiss bounty hunter who considered himself a man of high principals and decent morals stared at the woman behind the forcefield with barely contained hatred as his hand rested on his blaster. Mako...what would you have done? Every fiber of my being is telling me to blow a hole in this woman's skull for taking you from me. She killed Braden, she killed Jory. She killed Gault. She spits in the face of Mandalorian tradition, a tradition I have sworn to uphold.

"She's not worth it, my friend. Just step back."

Zassos barely looked at the young man he had picked up on Alderaan a few weeks back as he continued staring at the woman behind the forcefield who flashed him a smirk as she made herself comfortable. "You don't know how much this thing has taken from me. She's killed my mentors. She killed my crew mate and she killed my wife. And she nearly killed me nearly a dozen times. She tried blowing up the Hunter's Eye before we even left Dromund Kaas. She shot my wife in the head on Nar Shaddaa right after we took down our mark. If you feel anyone else has earned the right to kill this piece of psychotic, death worshiping garbage I'd love to meet them."

The young man stared at Zassos with eyes filled with the same pain the Chiss himself was feeling. "You know she killed my family. She needed a base of operations to hunt from and we were foolish enough to offer it to her. She killed them all without a second thought. If you hadn't shown up I would have died with them." The young man continued staring at Zassos until finally the Chiss stared back at him and he saw the young man's scarred and half-burnt face. "Your code is one of honor. We got what we came here for. Let the self-destruct take care of her. Let her die without the feeling of a weapon in her hand."

Zassos turned back towards the woman in the cell who was now looking slightly more concerned at the thought of not facing Zassos one on one. "Braden and Jory. I wonder what they would think of you right now." Jewl'a Nightbringer said with a faint smirk. "Standing there with your victory within reach and all you can do is think about what your little wife would have done." Jewl'a yawned and mimicked holding a blaster rifle. "She was so happy on Nar Shaddaa when you bagged your target wasn't she? Laughing and smiling the entire walk back to the spaceport. It's a damn shame she never made it to the Hunter's Eye isn't it? Still, Nar Shaddaa is a dangerous place and murders are quite common, aren't they? Even when your less than ten feet from your ship."

Zassos's eyes were locked on Jewl'a as he pulled his blaster from it's holster and he aimed it directly at Jewl'a's head. "Drop the field." He said softly to the young man.

"I won't."

Zassos turned to look at the young man with an expression that could have cut through durasteel. "I said, Drop. The. Field."

The young man who had taken a new name when he had chosen to follow the Mandalorian way of life after the life of an Alderaanian noble had been so cruelly ripped from him shook his head. "I won't. This is what she wants and we can't give her what she wants. We have to be better than her. Let her die, alone and forgotten!"

The young man who now went by the name Tarro Blood stepped in front of Zassos and by extension, the blaster. "I lost my mother, my father, my younger brothers and sisters to this monster! Your the one who saved my life when this monster burned my face and left me broken and scarred. You taught me the Mandalorian code of honor and made sure I understood it! I will not let you betray your code of honor. You are the only family I have left now, and I will not let you betray what you are. You are a good man, one has never taken a life in cold blood."

Tarro stared at Zassos with unflinching eyes. "If you want to kill Jewl'a then you'll have to go through me. I won't let you betray who you are and let you sink to this creature's level."

Zassos stared back at Tarro for a very long, tense moment before sighing and shoving his blaster back in it's holster. "Mako wouldn't want this. Neither would Braden or Jory. Hell, even Gault probably would have had second thoughts about gunning her down in cold blood. Your right, kid. She's not worth it. Let the flames claim her."

Tarros flashed a faint smile of relief before turning to face Jewl'a who's smirk had faded and had now been replaced by a look of fear when faced with the possibility of dying stuck in the ship's brig. "You can't just leave me here. Think of what your family would have done in this situation."

"My old life is over." Tarro said quietly as he motioned at Zassos's back as the big Chiss turned away and began heading down the hallway towards the docking port. "As far as I'm concerned, the big man is family now."

"Warning: Self-destruct in four minutes"

Tarro turned away from the captured bounty hunter and followed the towering Chiss down the hall. He allowed himself a faint smiled as he heard the sound of Jewl'a's screams of rage and the sound of herself throwing herself frantically against the forcefield.

As the two hunters boarded the Hunter's Eye, Tarro gave the Chiss hunter his space for a few moments before heading to the medbay to check on the medbay's sole patient.

"He didn't blast her, did he?" The former great hunt champion Hedarr Soongh asked rather bluntly. The former champion's body was broken and scarred from Jewl'a's ambush in the lower industrial center before they had left for the Aurora. It had taken everything they had to keep the old man alive the first few days after the ambush.

Tarro leaned against the wall and shook his head. "No, he didn't. There was a moment I really thought he was going to and possibly go through me to do it, but I was able to talk him out of it."

Hedarr chuckled. "I'm glad he didn't. Be a shame to see one who has displayed such honorable behavior to tarnish it right before the end of the Great Hunt." The two stopped speaking for a moment as the Hunter's Eye shuddered slightly as it entered hyperspace.

Tarro looked at Soongh for a moment. "Do you think he'll be okay?"

Soongh thought for a moment before replying. "I think so. He lost his mentor, his wife and his crew mates. It's gonna be a rough recovery for him but time eventually heals all."

Soongh paused for a moment before looking at Tarro. "You acted with honor, you know that right? If you hadn't been there I'm pretty sure Jewl'a would have had a number of holes blasted in her before the cruiser blew. She didn't deserve death in combat. She deserved to die the way she did."

Tarro paused. "I wanted to blast her myself to be honest." He admitted quietly. "She took everything from my old life. I can sometimes still hear the screams when I try to sleep."

Soongh smiled a brief smile. "You've got a new family. Pretty sure the big man up there values you more than you realize. You kept him from betraying his principals. Zass is a man of honor and integrity. I'm pretty sure if he betrayed those principals he would have stayed and died with the Aurora." Soongh placed a hand on Tarro's shoulders and smiled faintly. "It's gonna be rough for a while, but I have a feeling the two of you are going to take the galaxy by storm. As long as you follow the code, I think you two will be just fine."

Tarro smiled at Soongh's words as the ship continued on towards the Spirit of Vengeance.