Chapter 36.

Cheers and enjoy. Last edited June 1st, 2016.

Torian kept all of his kits functions at minimal settings and he followed.

He had been tracking the droid for almost an hour now, and he had it cornered at home base now.

That's when he heard it.

Torian reeled, vibro-blade at the ready. He reacted with the speed of reflexes honed over many years of work. He had Raidre pinned in just under two seconds. She didn't fight back, she just let him take her down, and as soon as he realized it was her. She smiled as he jumped away.

"I'm-"

She hopped back on her feet and waved her hand without even looking at him. "Come off it. So this is where you tracked it to?"

Torian frowned, and then decided he was better off just rolling with it too.

They crouched amongst the debris and looked at the facility ahead.

"Yea, I am pretty sure this is where it goes to repair itself."

Raidre nodded. "So we gotta blow this place into the stratosphere…Preferably with the droid inside."

Torian smirked, realized he had his helmet on and she wouldn't hear or see his response so he nodded.

"Yep. Any sign of Kevain?"

Raidre nodded eyes still on the facility. "The cavalry has arrived, Mako and co found him."

"You sure?"

Raidre nodded. "I was on my way back to tell you when I ran into droid, and three other Mandos."

Torian nodded. "Mako asked for Corridan's help."

"She got it."

Torian looked back to the facility. Raidre continued to stare at him. She reached for his helmet, and he let her remove it. Sweat added a sheen to his skin which had gotten golden in his travels. Facial hair covered the lower half of his face.

"I know this not the time, or place. And I know I'm not a real Mandalorian to you and yours. But when this is done, is it going to be goodbye for good?"

Torian swallowed hard. "It was never goodbye for good."

Raidre nodded. "I figured that part out, but I'm not good with long-distance relationships, Torian. We're either a thing, or not, but I can't guess anymore."

Raidre handed his helmet back as she stood. "Just come out with it before you disappear again."

Torian put his helmet back on, feeling more naked than if he had been naked in front of her. Raidre had a way of going straight for the jugular and it was a bit unnerving when she did it with sensitive matters.

"I'm sorry I ever made you feel like you had to guess."

Raidre stared, but nodded. "Good, another time, at a better place."

"Mantis?"

A slight smile tinged her lip. "Sure. Now let's kill this thing."

"Down."

"Guys, I just got a ping and a rendez-vous point."

Everyone looked up at Mako. Her eyes wide, she looked to everyone and then back to her datapad.

"Gault, are you getting this?"

"Yep, I'll see you guys there, I got some distance to cover."

Gault went silent as Draga went nuts. They're data pads had suddenly been given clearance and all the information they had needed was flooded to them. Mako couldn't see his face, but she could tell he was just as confused as her.

"How?"

Mako shook her head and shrugged. "Raidre."

"How?"

Mako glanced at her datapad and sighed. "She used Torian's datapad."

Corridan was one of those guys who took every mess-up personally, Mako had understood that much about him. When they had found Kevain, he seemed to relax some and now that they knew that Torian was okay too. Years melted off his body and his voice. Mako wondered what Corridan was like relaxed. How all the team was like? She smiled.

"So when this all over, party at the Mantis?"

Corridan chuckled. "We'll bring the Netra'gal(1)."

Mako winked. "Good, say the word commander."

"All right boys and girls! Let's go make scrap metal of this droid!"

They shouted in unison and moved out.

The plan was simple. Raidre and Torian we're already on location, so they would set a trap and start the party. Corridan and co would sweep in and provide support and cover. If things got messy, as they always did, Gault had repositioned himself in order to provide further support. This was tricky because the outer shell of the droid was blaster resistant much like a space ship. Extreme heat was necessary to cause any lasting damage, which is why all fuel had been redirected towards flamethrowers. The few who had full exo-skeletal supports were the front line, nothing less could take a direct hit from the droids. Buy'ces(2) were necessary. Draga had informed the team that the droid had psychoactive pheromones that it dispersed to confuse organics it attacked. It could make you think you were looking at your best-friend or your mother. That's how Kevain had been injured.

"Lars."

"Right up this hill."

"Good, locked and loaded?"

Mako found herself joining the Mandalorians in their confirming shout, which was just Corridan's way of revving them up. Once they came to the top of the hill, they could see that further ahead, maybe a mile ahead, a building was burning. Raidre had bombed it. Mako recognized the Boss' favorite plasma detonator's blast radius. The team split into two, Corridan lead point while Draga lead Mako's team and brought up the rear. Corridan and co were Red, Draga and co were Blue.

"Blue to Red, watch your six."

Davain laughed. " You watch yours, Blue."

And then comms went quiet as everyone went to their positions. Draga and Mako being techie's and also med capable, were paired with someone who had an exo-suit just in case they got cornered. Lars guarded Mako, as they made their way to the northern high point. Every 15 seconds they got a locating ping from the now demolished facility.

"Red, Blue. I'm here."

Mako found herself nodding to Gault's voice.

"Okay," Corridan responded. "What do you see?"

"Movement to the east."

"In bound."

Once Mako had arrived at the highpoint, Lars stabbed the ground with a makeshift pike. "1 is ready."

"2 is ready." Draga answered.

While Red team went in to help Raidre and Torian, Blue team was in charge of setting up a perimeter that would trap the droid. As soon as Draga's answer came, Mako let go of the makeshift pike as it began to hum alive. They had made makeshift grav-pikes to create the perimeter. It wasn't enough to keep the droid from physically crossing the perimeter, but if it did, it would send all its sensors into a frenzy and fry some of its circuitry. Basically, if they lost it, the droid was likely going to still be neutralized. The operative term being 'likely'. Which is why Blue was tasked with clean up if things got messy.

Things always got messy.

Mako looked to Lars, he wore every shade of green a person could imagine. His exo-suit lit up his suit also in green. Mako held her blaster at the ready.

"We got 8 more, right?"

Lars nodded.

Mako nodded. "Okay."

They ran to set them all up.

Corridan lead his team to the east, and soon he could feel the impact and vibrations of action ahead. Once they were close enough to hear blaster shots being fired, the team split up to cover more ground and to surround the droid. He felt it before he knew in any quantifiable way. He looked to his left and saw nothing but wall. Then it crumbled as a thin, silver tentacle grabbed him round his waste and pulled.

His body was pulled through layers of plaster, durasteel and other materials used in construction. Had he not had a full kit, this would have crushed him and likely left him for dead. Instead, the internal alarms of his kit were blaring in his ears, light flashing as is his sensors registered the gravity of his situation and the damage he had sustained.

He was face to face with it and it wasn't a pretty face he was staring at. Glowing yellow eyes were pretty much the only things in this face that could be recognizably humanoid. Corridan heard a quick whistle. He looked to the source of the sound and saw red hair in a grey kit. Her face was obstructed by the mass of her hair, but he'd known the Champion of the last Great Hunt anywhere. Corridan felt an impact and his suit went dark as its defensive measures against electrical shocks kicked in. That was Torian's staff. He'd always questioned why he needed his staff to be able to handle such high amperages, now he was thankful for it.

Corridan was released and dropped as he felt more than any other input that the droid flailed. He hit the ground, hard. But upon impact, his kit came back to life. As his T-visor lit up, as did his inputs come back to life. He was compromised, his chest plate was crushed where he had been grabbed and in all honesty, he could barely breath through the crushed metal. He grabbed a vibro-dagger he kept on his back and pulled it out. Blaster rifle had been lost on his way to this battle zone. The Caimber droid flailed above him as it tried to get loose. Corridan could see that it had been pinned by Torian's staff. Corridan ducked as a tentacle came down to his level, and then tumbled as a leg almost crushed him where he stood.

A hand grabbed his shoulder and he saw the familiar blue and gold of Torian's kit. It hurt to sigh, but he did it anyways.

"What you tell me about being reckless?"

Corridan's jaw clenched. "Really? You wanna go, now?"

Corrdian could hear the shit-eater grin on Torian's face. "Sure."

"You're unbelievable, you know that?"

Torian pulled him up and led him away to cover. Raidre ran by them as Torian pulled him out of the danger zone. He briefly saw the blue of her eyes and the hard lines of her face.

"How is she doing this without a helmet?"

Torian chuckled. "Stopped asking how a long time ago."

Corridan looked back in time to see that Raidre's kit was equipped with a full T-372 ex-suit, a model that was notorious and had been discontinued for its efficiency. It also sold for a life-savings amount of creds on the black market. The Caimber whipped her with two of its four tentacles and Raidre caught both limbs, blocking the strikes. Corridan sighed.

"So what took you guys so long?"

Torian shrugged. "The damn thing wanted to play hide and seek."

Corridan nodded. "Shabla(3) droid."

Davain and company moved in after Corridan had been grabbed. Perimeter had been established by Red team and now they moved in on all sides. They came in just in time to spot a red head in grey getting pinned. Actually, Davain wasn't sure if she was pinned or just playing tug of war with the droid.

"Suppression fire!"

The air hummed with the blaster volley that came from all directions. The red-head's shields fired up as she bolted out of the way. The droid flailed and wailed, its voice shrill and metallic. A couple of the girls whose hearing was still intact grabbed for their ears. Davain thanked his partial deafness. Tentacles came for them. Davain blocked a tentacle for Siz and grunted as he was pushed back, his heels digging into the ground.

"Packs a punch."

Siz laughed. "Seriously! Moved your fat ass by 6 inches!"

Davain growled. "Who you calling fat?"

Davain wrapped the tentacle around his arm like he would rope if he was Bantha wrangling. The droid tried to pull on him, and he dropped his leg spikes to keep himself firmly planted where he stood.

"Doctor, are we ready to operate?"

Davain groaned and rolled his eyes. "Hurry it up, already."

Siz fired up his modified plasma cutter. It was like a plasma cutter had been given steroids and crossbred with a vibro-dagger. It was a nasty piece of work Siz was way too happy with because it melted organics as much as it cut them. Siz came for the tentacle and his dagger got about half way in one slash. The Mandos looked at each other, Davain nodded and gave Siz a thumbs up. Siz had just gone back for a second strike when the tentacle lurched and pulled at Davain. Davain was pulled forward a step before he locked it down.

"Siz, now."

Siz began chopping like a mad man, he got in three more strikes and almost cut the tentacle off before the droid finally pulled it back. Siz inspected his blade.

"So?"

Siz looked at Davain, face set in hard lines. "Guys, max out the heat output, my plasma cutter barely did the job."

Collective swearing from everyone on the comm link. Draga sighed.

"Wish we had brought more fuel."

"Perimeter set!"

Electricity unified the Mandalorians as the trap was set. Guns at the ready, they all advanced on the droid. Lars, Mako, Blizz, Draga and Ritsa held down the perimeter while the rest of the team pushed the assault. At the centre of the fray was Raidre who could trade blows with the damned thing and Torian who could paralyse it with his electro staff temporarily. It was a nightmare blur of concentrated shooting, keeping your eyes peeled not to shoot at friendlies, but laying down sufficient fire to cover them.

But they had it cornered.

Davain and Nathan charged in to help Raidre. Nathan got sent into a building right away as one of the fully intact tentacles came at him like an oversized whip.

Davain wanted to look back and check on his vod(4), but he couldn't afford to hesitate, more could be hurt in the process. Action has a way of blurring the lines of what you can perceive versus what you remember of the engagement. The helmets help you focus on the important and block out the rest. Raidre didn't have a helmet. She was crazy. She kept dodging the damn thing, but every time she did it was so close to her losing her head that Davain had to stop paying attention to her, it made him nervous. Torian kept deflecting anything that came his way, his job was to get in and zap the damned thing to knock it out for a couple of seconds.

Davain was losing his patience with the damned thing, so he pushed all his remaining juice to his hydraulic joints. His suit glowed that eerie orange it used to signal his powered mode. And he waited. When you were big and heavy your entire fighting style was centred on your timing. A tentacle came for him and he let it go by him just barely missing him. His left hand wrapped around the tentacle and he locked it down into the ground, fracturing concrete with the force of his strike.

"NOW!"

Torian had moved into the opening Davain had made for him, and with his staff glowing blue for the amperage, he struck the droid. Davain timed it and let go before he was killed by the conduction of Torian's electricity. The droid shrieked as it stood immobilized. Dets of all kinds made their way in the air. Its hull melted at spots, and Torian's staff depleted, the Droid eyes flickered as circuitry rerouted.

Raidre ran.

She ran up the arm Davain had immobilized because it was taut. Just as the droid came back to life, Raidre had made it on its back. Davain stared, arms ready to catch, but catch what? If she was thrown off, his suit might not be enough to catch her without him being crushed, and without them, this fight was over. Davain licked his lips but his tongue was dry.

"You never told me she was crazy."

Torian laughed. "Lots I didn't say."

The droid started bucking and flailing as it realized it had a passenger.

"Shabla(5)!"

Torian ran in, avoiding the flailing and activated his staff, it had no more power but it could still be used for what it was initially built for. He pushed a button and spikes jutted out on either side of the staff. Davain clued in, and tapped his hydro-boots as he ran in himself. The spikes from his boots jutted out and he grabbed them, they looked oddly like ice-pikes, and looked for an opening to secure one of the ground.

"Laying down suppression fire."

Gault came through the comms as heavy bolts began to impact the droid. They were all aimed at the chest level, avoiding the two guys on the ground and the lady up top. The other Mandos joined in. This effectively knocked the droid around, making it cease bucking as it became unstable and the likelihood of falling over increased.

Davain found the tentacle he and Siz had almost hacked off. He jammed one of the pikes in. The tentacle wiggled. Davain's eyes widened and he jammed in his second pike as hard as he could. His suit lost all power. But the tentacle was immobilized.

"Got one, out of juice."

"Get out of there!"

Davain looked around as he recognized Corridan's voice. "Boss?"

Reva bolted for Davain. Davain stared as another tentacle came for where he stood. He tried to run, but he could barely move with the added weight of his kit. Reva made it just in time to jump and push Davain out of the way. They tumbled together away from ground zero.

"Raidre!"

"I'm okay!"

Raidre held on for dear life. She reminded herself no one asked her to ride this mechanical bantha. She had volunteered. She always volunteered for the jobs no one wanted. Maybe there was a reason people didn't want to do them. Maybe she should get a clue and not volunteer next time. With every jolt and jeer more red alerts dotted along her suit. Part of her was worried, but a part of her was glad she didn't have her helmet. She was going to be livid once she saw the repair bill. Once two out of four tentacles were nailed down, things got a lot smoother from her vantage point. She pulled the data spike out of her chest plate and stabbed into the thing's neck, one its only weak points.

It shrieked as Mako's code began to do its magic. It began to buck for its life. Raidre clamped down where the tentacles jutted out of its back.

"This is a bad idea, really bad idea."

Raidre muttered to herself as she powered up her crush gaunts.

"Maybe I won't burn off my hands. Ah fierfrek(6)… this is going to hurt."

She closed her eyes as she clenched. The internal mechanisms of her suit were all more or less compromised, but her flame throwers were still operational. As she clenched her fists, they fired up. At such close range they began to melt off her plates on her arms. She cried out at the heat as she was thrown off. She didn't see it but two out of four tentacles fell as she did. Raidre knew she was losing consciousness. She couldn't feel her hands. Mako was going to yell. She pulled herself into a ball and did her best to protect her helmetless head and exposed neck and then she hit a wall.

Why did she do this? Every fierfreking(7) time. Torian raced to her as the droid began to be taken down from the inside. One of its remaining tentacles was held by his electrostaff. Mako also came rushing. She reached Raidre before he did, she had probably started running once Raidre had gotten on the droid. Torian looked away to guard them from the now deactivating droid. Better place for his rage than around Mako. Good thing too, as he began to turn to face the droid, its one good tentacle came for him. It wasn't looking to smack, it wanted to stab him. And it did. Right through the left of his chest, through him and crushing him against a wall. Torian coughed blood up in his helmet.

"Ugh… blood in the beard."

He couldn't feel much below the neck, which was a good thing. He stared up at the droid. Its eyes flickered as internal systems began shutting down. Torian sighed.

"Almost."

He covered the tentacle that held him pinned to the wall with his oil slick and then used a high heat short burst from flame throwers to cut the droid off of him. It shrieked one last time as it finally powered off.

NOTES:

1 .Dark and thick alcohol traditional to Mandalorians, think of Guinness beer.

2 .Helmets.

3 .Impolite, insult, I let you pick which one since in Mandalorian it's inter-changeable.

4 .Brother.

5 .Impolite, in this instance used like 'shit'.

6 .This is definitely fuck. I'm such a swearing sailor…

7 .Same as above.