Chapter 26.

Latest edit; July 27th, 2015. Cheers and Enjoy.

Mako woke in a jolt to the sound of Torian's voice on their secure comm link. Nothing was ever a 100% secure, which was why it shocked her into wakefulness. Torian only called for help when he was neck deep in some serious kind of trouble. Raidre was just as bad actually. Gosh, dealing with one was much like dealing with the other.

"Mantis, this is Torian, please come in."

There was something wrong, she could hear it in his voice. Torian was hard to read, he didn't share much about himself and even less about his feelings. Seriously, all this guy did to express his enjoyment of an awesome dinner was to groan in appreciation. That was it. He barely spoke and Mako had NEVER heard him even use the word 'feel' before. But his voice always felt steady. Like a heartbeat, constant, strong, neither too fast or too slow. Ever since Braiden had been murdered, Raidre was the rock of her life, her only family. Torian always made you feel like you could count on him. Like he he'd be there for you even if he didn't say anything at all. Mako couldn't pin point when, but she now knew, that Torian had also made it into her inner group of trusted people.

Without her knowing it, Torian had become family. How sad it was that she would only realise it when she could tell that he was in obvious pain?

Mako did her best to keep her breathing even. There wasn't all that many things that could affect Torian. Those she knew all came back to Raidre. Mako clutched the controls knuckles turning white from the effort.

"Torian, it's me. Did you find her? Is she okay?"

There was a pause.

Torian never paused. Especially not for emphasis. Something had gone wrong and he was choosing his words with care. Trying to dull the blow but not sugar-coating it. Mako swallowed past a dry throat and inhaled deep enough to flare her nostrils. Raidre often joked that this was how she prepared for impact.

"What do you need?"

Torian sighed. "Help."

Mako chuckled. "I thought you said 'help' wasn't part of your vocabulary?"

Torian groaned. "It is today."

Mako sighed. "Yea, the joke was hollow even to me."

"Thanks for trying?"

Mako nodded and got to work. "I am homing into your position as we speak."

Mako began running a couple of diagnostics simultaneously on Torian's signal. He was way out in no-where's land and she could barely pinpoint where that was. She frowned.

"Are you underground?"

"Yep, and in motion."

Mako nodded as she adjusted her software to the new data. "My software says I could be in your general vicinity within a couple of minutes, maximum 3, can you make it to surface in that time?

"Negative, need more time."

Mako's frown deepened. "For what?"

"To light this place up."

Mako paused at that. "Say again?"

"Light it up, like a torch, Mako. With explosives."

Mako took a shaky breath. "I know, just making sure I heard right. Gonna need some missiles?"

"Much appreciated. E.T.A. to surface 15 minutes."

Mako sighed. "You got it."

Mako calibrated the missile systems and set everything up, including a timer. She took a deep breath.

"Gault!"

She could hear him jolt, hit his head on his bunk and fall of his bed. Some profane swearing in Huttese followed shortly after. Mako waited patiently for the tide to pass.

"I'm up!" Gault managed as he came up to the cock pit.

"Good!" Mako unbuckled herself. "You're driving and shooting while I set up the med-bay, got it?"

Gault frowned as Mako marched past him. "What?! What happened?!"

Mako frowned and threw her arms up. "I don't know, but maybe if we would have gone with Torian, we would!"

Mako stormed off leaving Gault alone with an emotion he had almost forgotten he could feel: guilt.

Torian had set up the explosives in all the key points of the facility. It had taken him all of twelve minutes and he was racing for the exit. Luck was on his side, the facility was only a single floor and he had had no trouble finding his way to the four areas his map had identified as vulnerable. He had set up some remote detonators to take it all down. He kept his mind focused on the present, he couldn't think beyond that for now. He couldn't stand what had happened and what it meant.

He would face this failure when survival was assured. And even then, it was going to take lots of digesting.

As soon as the Mantis showed up, he ran into it, surprised that as soon as the Jedi had been slain there had been just no resistance from anyone within the facility. Mako was ready for Torian as soon as they got in.

"Welcome back kid! Knew you could do it!"

Torian gritted his teeth at the sound of Gault's voice. Anger with the Devaronian made the Mando'ad seethe, never mind being called a kid. If Torian didn't know better he would be certain Gault was goading him. "Shoot. Talk later."

"You got it!"

Torian did his best not to let the Devaronian's cheerfulness send him into a rage. Mako had already begin to fuss.

"Oh! Oh, my gosh! What happened?!"

An explosion rocked the ship as it lifted back off, neither of them paid it any mind. If Torian never saw the surface of Hoth again, he might be satisfied.

"Jedi happened. "

Mako gasped. "You okay?!"

Torian nodded. "Fine. Fix her."

Mako rushed away and Torian sat down.

He had to sit because he felt like he weighed a ton rather than just under a hundred kilos. But sitting was a mistake. Now he couldn't run from his thoughts and the feelings they evoked.

He'd failed to protect her.

There was no escaping that crushing fact. It knocked the air out of him and had him sitting on the work bench where Raidre and he often sat to clean and repair their equipment. He took a shaky breath, wondered if he had maybe taken more a hit than he cared to admit to, and then decided he needed to keep moving. Torian stood and made his way to the cock pit to deal with Gault. The Devaronian was ready for him, which Torian hadn't been expecting. He looked worried, also unexpected.

"How bad is it?"

Torian swallowed past his own worries and feelings. "Missing a hand."

Gault's eyes widened. Torian had to feel for the guy as the news sunk in. Truth was sometimes they all forgot that Raidre was human, she stayed up for far too many hours at a time, worked harder than was healthy and somehow luck was always on her side.

Until it wasn't.

Gault sat back down, eyes still wide, but not seeing the ground at his feet. That sucked all the anger out of Torian. He sat down next to the Devaronian.

"She told you to get to safety, didn't she?"

Gault nodded and laughed, but it never touched his eyes. "She's always joking about how she can handle anything, even if I run on her."

Torian nodded and undid the biddings to take his helmet off. Gault looked at him, face set in harsh lines as emotions took hold of Gault and played his features for him. This was real and genuine, Torian had no doubt of it.

"I'm sorry."

"Me too."

Gault looked at him. "This was my fault, not yours."

Torian shrugged. "Was there when she lost her hand, reacted too slow."

Gault took a shuddering breath. "I should never have listened to her. "

Torian shrugged. "Guess you won't next time."

Gault laughed mirthlessly and buried his face in his gloves. "She treats us like family. "

Torian nodded. "That's 'cause we are her family."

Gault shook his head, his eyes wet but tearless. "No, no! A girl like that, she has to have sisters, a mother, you know? A real family!"

Torian shook his head. He never smiled. "Gault, we're it."

For a moment the two men just looked at each other. For Torian, this was normal. You lived and sometimes living meant loosing those around you. Reality could be harsh, but it made you who you are. He hadn't considered that Gault might not have seen that. Might not have seen that it would take some real tragedy for a girl with as good a heart as Raidre's to become as hard as she was. It takes time to get sharp, to get mean. She was by no means bitter, but she could be as hard as Mandalorian Iron and as ruthless as any mercenary. Heck, it took some real back bone to get the bonafide leader of the Mandalorians to take notice. Those accomplishments were all hers. And she had to lose something in order to have become who she was today.

Gault inhaled and sniffed. "Well, guess it's time I started getting with the program."

Torian nodded with satisfaction. "Tell her that when she wakes up. "

Torian stood, Gault stood too. "Where you going?"

Torian paused and looked back at the Devaronian. "Gonna help Mako."

Gault watched the Mandalorian walk off.

Well this had gone all kinds of wrong. That suspicious part of him worried that they might wake up one morning to find that Torian's bunk was empty. This kid took honour to a whole new level, it would be the type of thing he would do. Gault hoped his instincts were wrong even though he knew they weren't, like, ever. His instincts were the only reason he was still alive now. He frowned as the Mandalorian walked away. He owed Raidre. I mean, he'd owed her before, but this was different. Everything has just been flipped on its head as far as Gault was concerned. He had to get her back somehow, and the only thing he could think of was to make sure Raidre got the best deal. And the best deal had to come with the tall, blonde and mysterious Mando.