Chapter 33.

This took a lot of work to write and then to edit into a cohesive piece. And then I scrapped a 15-page chapter to start from scratch, *Le sigh*, I'm telling you. If you can choose your art form, don't pick writing. Your muse always wants a vacation, always chooses the wrong time to hit you up with inspiration and it's a gruelling work where you can spend hours just evaluating the same pages to make sure your dialogue is appropriate and your vocabulary suits the voice of your narrator. TT_TT Please enjoy.

So, I did some editing, and then the file did not save. TT_TT Deep sadness.

Last edited on 25/08/2016.

Re-entry into the facility had been quicker and easier than anticipated.

Mako walked up to their first obstacle; the security terminal to the main vault where their three comrades were prisoner. Mako cracked her knuckles and held her hand out to Gault. Gault handed her thedatapad.

Draga inhaled beside her. Mako looked his way and their eyes met. Her amber ones gazed into his red ones. If a pin dropped all could have heard it.

"Oh-kay…"

Gault backed away and stood next to Corridan. The Mandalorian cleared his throat and gestured to Mako. "So, she's the tech of your team."

Gault crossed his arms, left brow quirked and nodded. "Yep. Your man..?"

"Draga, from Clan Vizla. "

Both men stood shoulder to shoulder, arms crossed and gazing at their techies.

Gault shrugged. "I'm going to pretend that means something to me."

Corridan's helmet bobbled as he nodded. "Sure, you do that."

Mako and Draga continued to stare. Mako decided she needed to up the pressure on Draga , so she stopped blinking until he got the message and let her handle the hacking. He did not relent and then he stopped blinking.

Corridan's helmet dived for his palm. "Oh, for Manda's sake, we don't have all day! Just whoever gets in first gets a fist bump of pride, okay?"

For a moment, nothing was said, neither hacker responded to Corridan's attempt to quell the silent competition. Then they both pounced on opposite ends of the terminal and began the hack race.

Davain groaned. "Good, grief."

Blizz said something to one of the few girls on the Mandalorian team, who also happened to speak Huttesse and she burst out laughing.

The hacker race didn't last long, and wasn't all that exciting. After the initial rush of the two trying to get hooked up, it was just a lot of typing and cursing whenever one of them did a typo due to adrenaline. Within two minutes Mako jumped up fist clenched as the doors slid open. Draga rose and gave her a level look.

"I let you win."

"Pfff." Mako did her best not to laugh. "Sure you did."

She felt, rather than heard the Mandalorians put their helmets on in unison. There was an eeriness to how synchronized they were. There was a lot that never needed to be said, they all knew how the other moved, or felt. The helmets went on, the T shaped visors lit up, a couple of jet packs fired up, and some hydraulic joints powered up. The sound of miniature engines, gears and power just radiated off of them all as they pulled out their weapons, once again, in unison, and moved up ahead of Mako to clear the way ahead of her. It was unsettling, but then again, if there were twelve Raidres or Torians, this is what it would always be like. Once the it was time she always got quiet and focused. In her zone.

All of them were in the zone.

"Well, see you all from above."

With that Gault pulled out his blaster rifle and was off to higher ground. Draga stayed behind with another Mandalorian, Reva. They and Blizz would act as her guard. She had objected to needing a guard, but Corridan had made it clear that although she was combat ready, by their standards, she was not combat ready. When both Blizz and Gault had agreed, she had been miffed, but had no more room to argue. That and Reva was so cool! Her kit was painted grey and ultra-violet purple and it lit up that same ultra-violet shade once she powered on. Draga pulled his visor down and it lit up red. Mako pulled out a comm-link she could wear and without any need for words, they moved in after Corridain lead point.

Once her comm was fully loaded she could hear their shorthand exchanges as they made their way through what now was obviously a maze. Mako frowned, this would have obviously delayed them, could Raidre be fine inside and just lost?

"I'll be keeping surveillance on the building while you map out the route for the point team."

Mako said nothing as Draga casually announced to her that he was letting her be in charge. Mandalorians were… jarring! They were so competitive and belligerent upon initial contact, but as soon as you 'prove' yourself on terms they could understand, they were the most valuable and least prideful teammates in the Galaxy! Mako lit up her pad and began running all her usual diagnostics. Red dots appeared on her screen as the Mandalorians moved into the maze and effectively mapped out the maze for her with their own gear and own set of sensors.

Corridan lead point with Davain and Lars, two of his biggest Mandalorians and armed to the teeth. For such big men wearing such heavy gear they had wasted no time getting ahead. They had already mapped out two kilometres worth of trail. Mako withheld a whistle of appreciation.

"Sure hope you're not pushing yourself to show off your skills, Commander. We know you're all some grade a Triple Bs, okay?"

"Triple Bs?"

"Big, Beastly, Badasses. Sir."

A few of the Mandalorians laughed at that. Mako's team moved ahead to try and keep a pace with Corridan's team while keeping a safe distance. Corridan never answered, Davain did instead.

"Naw, Cor is just a worry-wort and he wants this whole ordeal done and over with."

Gault snorted. "Don't tell me Torian's been behaving this entire time, he's a virtual troublemaker with us!"

Reva snorted mid-jog at that. Draga even smiled at that. "Torian and 'well-behaved' don't exactly go together."

"I know, right? It's like a game of what doesn't belong. You have Alderaan wine, some folks from Coruscant and then Torian. Nobody even has to try. Oh, hold up. I see movement."

Mako could feel the ripple of motion through her team and could only imagine as the others all stopped and held their breaths. She found herself holding hers.

"Corridan, you're two o'clock. Something reflective and moving."

Corridan's dot on Mako's mapped shot forward at neck-break speed. Davain and Lars had a hard time keeping up. Reva shook her head. One withering look from Draga kept her quiet though. Reminding Mako that she might have their respect, but she wasn't one of them. Although Corrdian lead point with Davain, Kevain's older and bigger brother and Lars. There were two more teams of threes that had gone off in other directions. When Gault had told everyone to wait, they all had. Now with the directives being open once again, the two teams moved deeper in their respective directions.

Ruda, a short and stocky girl's voice came through the comm. "Got something."

Corridan and the other team, led by Voka, another Chiss, and from what Mako could tell, possibly Draga's sister continued to move ahead.

"Team, I got eyes on Kevain."

"How's he?"

Mako watched as Davain's dot on her map slowed by comparison to his other teammates. She bit her lower lip as she waited with Davain for Ruda's answer.

"He's good, Dav. Out but good. Met with heavy contact, got buried under rubble. Siz and Ritsa are already helping me get him out. Mako, what is in here?"

Mako pulled out her only schematics on parts of the Caimber droid that was supposed to be housed her. "I don't really know, Ruda."

Ruda grunted, Mako didn't know if it was from lifting something heavy or because of her lack of answer. "Well, whatever it is, it packs a punch."

And that's when Voka and her entire team disappeared. Draga's eyes widened as they met Mako's. Mako shook her head as she refreshed the screen. Draga's left hand went to his comm-link at his ear.

"Voka. You're not on our map, what's going on?"

Mako counted to three. "Voka, status update."

Silence. "Headed to her last known location. I need more intel on the Caimber. Draga, do your magic."

"Yes, Boss."

Corridan kept going. "Reva, you're point. Lead your team to meet with Ruda. Meet up with us asap. Gault, I need eyes up top on Voka's L.K.L."

"L.K.L.?"

Draga rolled his eyes. "Last known location."

"You have your orders."

All the Mandalorians sounded off and everyone got to work. Mako led Draga as he dug through the encryption to get to more detailed files about the Caimber droid. Blizz brought up the rear as Reva lead them at a steady jog to meet up with Ruda. They got there just as Corridan landed where Voka was last seen. Draga was still digging, but not totalled engrossed.

"Cor?"

"At the contact zone, no sign of life though."

Draga's shoulders fell. "Seriously, ghost town here."

At Davain's words, Draga doubled his efforts to break the encryption. Reva met up with Ruda, Siz and Ritsa as they pulled Kevain out from the rubble.

"Blizz, watch him."

Blizz saluted Mako as she ran to help them with Kevain. His armour was banged up, burned and bent at places. Everything looked intact, but his left arm was bent where it not have been. Reva looked to Mako just as she joined them.

"You're a medic, right?"

Mako nodded. "Yep, put him down."

They put Kevain down with such care that you would almost not have believed these men and women to be Mandalorians. Mako helped them strip the young man and did her best to hide her empathy when the extent of his injuries was revealed. She needed more precise equipment but she was certain he had some internal bruising. They helped her dress his wounds and then covered him back up. Mako looked to Draga.

"Any luck?"

Draga groaned and pinched his face in self-disgust and a little loathing. "None at all."

Draga reached for his comm-link. "Status check."

"We're still here, Mommy."

Mako clamped her hands on her mouth as she swallowed a laugh at Davain's remark. Draga let his eyes shut as his brows furrowed and his lips pressed together. "Great."

"Nothing to report, moving ahead."

Mako put a hand on Draga's shoulder. "Okay, thank you. Keep in touch." She looked at the others. "Who's coming with us to help Corridan's search party?"

Ruda squared her shoulder. "Ritsa and I can take Kevain back to your ship. He's stable, so you should stay and help them, Mako."

Mako looked between them, Ruda was a short little lady, her kit screamed scout. Ritsa on the other hand was built like a heavy hitter, Mako helped him pick up Kevain for easy carrying on his back while still keeping the patient comfortable. Ruda looked up to Ritsa.

"Keep close, I got us!"

Ritsa rolled his eyes and smiled at everyone else. "See you guys back at base. Don't forget souvenirs!"

Mako watched them leave. How they managed to be cheerful when they weren't sure if Torian was alive or dead? Or when three other members of their team had gone missing. Mako chalked it up for one of the many strange features of Mandalorian resiliency. Mako looked back to the rest of the team, Draga, Reva, Siz, Blizz and herself.

"So, we double back to meet up the rest of the team."

Draga looked up. "Why do they have pheromone studies of every known species of the galaxy across all sexes?"

Mako shrugged. "No idea. Move out?"

They all nodded and got moving.