Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Rae and the Crazy she brings with her. Also, I blame the chat-fics for this chapter. Star Wars chat-fics are so funny and some of them lead to accidental fix-its, it's glorious. Recommend searching AO3 for them.
Time-Line: roughly three years and 4/5 months after Naboo
Phantasm 9: Intergalactic Pen Pals 2
It had been a month or so since Shiva had seemingly gone on a Mando killing spree. In that time, she hadn't exchanged any messages with Jango. The files she'd sent, along with the hints she'd dropped about the Clones, had obviously given him a lot to think about and she really wanted to know what conclusions he'd come to. Rae groaned and pulled out her comm, typing in the password to enter Shiva's partition and opened Jango's messages.
/*/
Shiva: Fett, check in with me.
Fett: Shiva
Shiva: Well you're alive at least.
Shiva: That's something.
Fett: How much do you really know?
Shiva: Gonna need to be a bit more specific there, Fett.
Fett: Jango
Fett: Call me Jango
Fett: You've earned that
Shiva: You're scaring me, Jango.
Shiva: Come on, tell me where your head is.
Fett: You were right.
Fett: You were so right.
Fett: How could I have been so blind?
Fett: My own adiik'e
Shiva: Rage tends to do that.
Shiva: Slavery just makes it worse.
Shiva: So, who am I speaking with?
Shiva: Bounty Hunter Jango, or Mand'alor Fett?
Fett: Neither.
Fett: The Mando'ade are dead.
Shiva: You sure about that?
/Shiva sent attachment: Haat Mando'ade/
.
.
.
Fett: Are those
Shiva: The comm frequencies for the surviving Haat Mando'ade and their last known locations? Yes.
Shiva: You didn't think it odd I gave all that beskar'gam to 'the last mando'ad The Network made contact with'?
Shiva: I might not be as information hungry as Phantasm, but they're still my vod so... We help each other out.
Fett: Ni kyr'tayl gai sa'vod, Shiva.
Shiva: Whoa! Hey! No!
Fett: No?
Shiva: This is something that demands a face-to-face.
Shiva: And a few... explanations.
Shiva: Like, I'm honored you'd trust me like this but
Shiva: You hardly know me.
Fett: You've given me back something I thought forever lost.
Fett: I know enough to respect.
Shiva: Ho boy...
Shiva: Look, I'm going to be honest here.
Shiva: I have respect for the man you used to be.
Shiva: The Mand'alor be Haat Mando'ade was one I would have gladly worked beside.
Shiva: And I believe you still have it in you to be that Mand'alor!
Shiva: But right now... you're not that man.
Shiva: Right now you're a man driven by rage and hate and pain and blinded by it.
Shiva: In time, perhaps I will accept you as my ori'vod but for now I will call you friend.
Fett: You truly believe that.
Shiva: Yes.
Fett: How do you suggest I go about being that Mand'alor?
Shiva: Well, first off, have you sorted through your emotions?
Shiva: Can you honestly say you are not consumed by your rage and hatred for the Jetiise?
Fett: No. But I am... working on it.
Shiva: Good. That means you've begun to heal.
Shiva: I recommend you find a good therapist. Mind healer. Whatever you call em.
Shiva: Or you can not and struggle through on your own.
Shiva: Next step, after you've gotten your blind rage under control, would be to contact those who survived.
Fett: I can do that.
Shiva: Also, claim your gosh darned kids!
Shiva: You're treating them like flesh droids.
Shiva: Slaves.
Shiva: You really want to be a slaver?
Fett: That, I have already begun to rectify.
Shiva: Wonderful.
Shiva: Just don't steal them all away, okay?
Shiva: There are some people I feel they need to meet.
Shiva: I'm working to avoid The War but if I fail...
Shiva: I've got a plan that is sweet, sweet, irony.
Fett: A revenge plot?
Fett: And here I thought you were disappointed in me for that very same thing.
Shiva: Well, I'm not above reversing a trap.
Shiva: I have contingencies in place to free your ade.
Shiva: And don't tell me the thought of turning all of the dar'jetii's 'perfect little soldiers' on him doesn't appeal to you.
Fett: What do you have planned?
Shiva: Ah~! Sorry, but I don't trust you enough yet to give you the details.
Shiva: Just know that Phantasm and I are working together on this, despite our differences.
Shiva: There is no good without evil, but evil must not be allowed to flourish. There is passion, yet serenity. Emotion, yet peace. Chaos, yet order. Where other men blindly follow the truth, remember nothing is true. Where other men are limited by morality or law, remember everything is permitted. I work in the dark to serve the light. I am an assassin.
Shiva: Sidious is an evil that cannot flourish.
Shiva: Slavery is an evil that cannot flourish.
Fett: Agreed
Shiva: Perhaps you are further along the path to healing than I thought, Jango Fett.
Fett: High praise.
Shiva: Oh Fett, you've yet to see my praise.
Fett: I look forward to it, Lady Shiva.
Shiva: Donna
Shiva: You've earned that much.
Fett: Lady Donna Shiva?
Shiva: Just Donna.
Fett: Vor Entye
Shiva: Dangerous words, Fett.
Fett: Jango
/Shiva has changed 'Fett' to 'Unchained'/
Shiva: This is actually more secure.
Unchained: I sense symbolism.
Shiva: As much as is in my name, Jango.
Unchained: Indeed?
Shiva: That is for your next milestone, Jango.
Shiva: Now tell me about your ade~!
Unchained: Well, there is a batch of CCs that have caught my attention
Unchained: They're rather creative.
Shiva: You must be so proud.
Unchained: I am, truly.
/*/
And so, Jango began the time honored tradition of parents everywhere: bragging on your kids while simultaneously calling them out on their shenanigans. Unsurprisingly, it was Cody's batch. Rae grinned, wondering when they'd start finding their names.
/*/
Shiva: They sound like delightful little hellions.
Unchained: They are.
Unchained: I've heard some of the others refer to them as Squad Shebs.*
Shiva: Oh, I will need to be introduced to them some time.
Shiva: The things I could teach these ade~!
Unchained: No.
Unchained: Bad Donna.
Unchained: No corrupting my adiik'e.
Shiva: Ha! Like I'm any worse than Priest!
Unchained: Can I hire you to kill him?
Shiva: Hum...
Shiva: A legit hit on a mando'ad?
Unchained: Dar'manda
Shiva: Well, I've already got a reputation for killing Death Watch.
Shiva: And I've seen the adiik'e flinching from him.
Shiva: Sure you just want to put a hit on Priest?
Unchained: It'd take too long to find new trainers.
Shiva: Didn't I just give you the locations and comm frequencies of a whole parcel of Haat'ade?
Unchained: Good point.
Unchained: How much would it cost to hire you to clean house?
Shiva: Do any of them have bounties on their heads?
Shiva: I'm willing to take the same deal as before.
Unchained: I'll check, but I don't think they do.
Unchained: Most are believed to be dead already so even if they did...
Shiva: Understood.
Shiva: How about this: My fake deal was the bounty and one favor for each set of beskar'gam I returned.
Shiva: I'm at roughly 43 right now
Unchained: 43!?
Shiva: Yes. So. You willing to honor those favors if I clean house for you?
Shiva: No additional favors added, so long as you honor the others.
Unchained: Deal.
Shiva: Wonderful.
Shiva: What's the most ignoble death a mando'ad can suffer?
Unchained: Wounded from behind, stripped of their beskar'gam, and fed to the local wildlife.
.
.
.
Unchained: Donna?
Shiva: *Wheeze* I'm fine~!
Shiva: Just remembering a story I heard once.
Shiva: Unfortunately, there are a few too many Death Watch members, or like minded individuals, among the Cul'val Dar for me to stab them all in the back, strip them, and toss them in the ocean.
Shiva: I may have to settle for gassing their rooms.
Unchained: That's... efficient. And mildly humiliating.
Shiva: Oh, I'll be going in after they're immobilized and peeling the beskar off their bodies before stabbing them from behind so they know who's killing them. I just can't be pitching them off the floating city each time.
Unchained: Vicious
Shiva: Hey, that's what you're paying for.
Shiva: Also, first favor.
Shiva: After I get washed up, I get to play with Boba and his vod'e.
Unchained: That's all?
Shiva: So far, yep~!
Shiva: Your genetics make cute kids.
Shiva: I had to be careful when I went near the cadets or I'd start cooing over them.
Unchained: I am disturbed.
Unchained: That's my face.
Shiva: And that's how I can say, with all confidence, that as long as they don't massacre their hair, the boys are going to be quite handsome when they're grown.
Unchained: Still disturbed.
Shiva: Be that way!
Shiva: Note made: Jango Fett can't take a compliment about anything but his warrior skills.
Unchained: I can take a compliment!
Shiva: Oh?
Shiva: I think you're a handsome man, Al'verde Fett.
Unchained: Nope.
Unchained: Still disturbing.
Shiva: I rest my case.
Unchained: You are incorrigible.
Shiva: And yet, you still want my respect.
Unchained: I'm questioning that resolve.
Shiva: Then what about the love and respect of your ade?
Unchained: I hate when you're right.
Shiva: I hate when you're a stubborn mule.
Unchained: What is a mule?
/Shiva sent attachment /
Unchained: Donna!
Shiva: No regrets~!
/Unchained has changed 'Shiva' to 'Gremlin'./
Gremlin: Rude.
Unchained: But true.
Gremlin: Just cause something is true, doesn't mean you have to say it.
Unchained: Fine.
Unchained: Still not sorry though.
Gremlin: And you wonder why the ade are little hellions.
Unchained: With every passing discovery, my respect for my buir raises.
Gremlin: Ya know... Neither Phantasm nor I have managed to come across Jaster Mereel's Super Commando Codex. You wouldn't happen to have a copy I could borrow, would you?
/Unchained sent attachment Just Keep It/
Gremlin: Just like that, huh?
Unchained: You are aware of the Six Actions, right?
Gremlin: My vod and I don't do armor.
Unchained: You would deny yourself a soul?
Gremlin: A soul does not require armor in our culture.
Gremlin: In our culture, a soul is housed within a body. When that body dies, no-one is 100% certain what happens to the soul. Some say the soul is reincarnated in a cycle, others that it is destroyed.
Gremlin: I've heard claims that once a body dies, the soul housed within joins the collective, much like how the Jetiise claim to pass into the Force or you Mando'ade March Far Ahead.
Gremlin: The faith I follow, even now, says that our souls are judged after death with the wicked and unrepentant being sent to eternal damnation while those who repented of their sins and came to the Father through the blood of his son... they are given eternal peace with the Father, creator of the universe.
Gremlin: So... no. I would not deny myself a soul, my concept of such a thing is merely different.
Unchained: I didn't ask for a philosophy lesson.
Gremlin: I am not sorry.
Unchained: Just... stay safe.
Gremlin: I'm an assassin, no-one worries for me. They worry of me.
Unchained: Donna... go to sleep.
Gremlin: But I'm not tired!
Unchained: Your professionalism has once more taken a nose dive into the ocean.
Unchained: Forgive me for not believing you.
Gremlin: You are forgiven.
Gremlin: But seriously, I'm not in danger. I am danger.
Unchained: I'm serious.
Unchained: Go to sleep.
Gremlin: Nope.
Gremlin: You can't tell me what to do, Fett!
Unchained: I have Phantasm's comm code and am unafraid to set them on you.
Gremlin: Ha!
Gremlin: Joke's on you!
Gremlin: Phantasm and I would just start trading quips and funny holos.
Unchained: Kriff
Unchained: Are you working with anyone?
Gremlin: Nope.
Gremlin: Solo operator, baby!
Unchained: Wait
Unchained: You never have back up?
Gremlin: Not as Shiva.
Unchained: Not as...
Unchained: You used an alias?
Gremlin: Obviously.
Gremlin: One of the things Phantasm and I share.
Unchained: Huh.
Gremlin: Oh! The boys are almost here!
Gremlin: GTG, need to start dinner!
Unchained: I thought you said you were solo?
Gremlin: So many jokes, so little time.
/?/
A/N: So... Jango is determined to be a good guy now? I... I don't know what happened here. I was writing the first 'Pen Pals' and he tried to adopt her then and I said no and then he just claimed her as vod'ika without the adoption and I said no and now Jango is just like 'I will not be denied!' and Rae had to say NO! And yet, Jango is still determined to be her Big Brother. Le Sigh. This is what all those Decent!Mando!Jango fics have done to his character in my head.
Also... Shiva decided to really just take every vicious, ruthless, pragmatic part of me and run away with them smirking like Fennec Shand and cackling like Assaji Ventress. So... Yeah.
*I got this from Soft Wars on AO3. Shebnanigans, specifically. I love my sassy clone boies.