"Approaching Naboo System, ad'alor," Biggs, the Fist's Helmsman, called out through the bridge. At a moment's notice, I had thirty Heavies, sixty standard Death Watch commandos, the five Nubian palace guards (volunteers… well, we'll see what they're worth today), my six strikers, the two dar'jetti, myself, and Dad's guards ready to go at the drop of a hat. "We'll be exiting Hyperspace in T-minus five minutes. Ad'alor, I hope that droid of yours pulls through," Biggs said as he turned to face me. I grinned broadly as we locked eyes, I didn't have my helmet on yet - there was no need. Everyone on board trusted each other (as much as Mandalorians can trust former Jedi) with their lives and identities.
"He will," I said simply as the rest of the Strikers grinned evilly as Dad frowned. He was in his full armor, full grey beskar with blue highlights, a grey jumpsuit, and a yellow crown on his brow that I mirrored in blue.
"I'm sorry, son," Dad said with a grimace, "I have no faith that droid of yours will do what must be done."
"He'll get it done, Alor," I said quietly. Dad nodded as the Strikers grinned - they knew exactly what HK was capable of. He's a powerful battle droid but the way he can interface with a system is almost on par with any Astromech and can translate as well as any Protocol droid while being a thousand times more tolerable. He just doesn't like dad.
"He better," dad growled as he stared me down before redirecting his attention to Padme. "Queen Amidala," he said in a more reasonable tone, our eyes locked before he turned to face Padme who was at my side. I squeezed her hand gently as Dad started the interrogation that we had been through a hundred times in the past three days. Questions like: Where's the best landing zone? What would be our best way to the palace? What is the contingency should we need to fight off the battle droids? Things like that, but there was a new question that surprised me.
"How do you want to Nute Gunray and the rest of the Federation lackeys handled when we find them?" He asked quietly, his eyes flashing slightly.
"I…" Padme hesitated out of sheer surprise. "I don't know…" she said weakly. "I just want them off Naboo once and for all, Governor."
"By all the laws of the Republic, you are free to punish him and the people he brought with him in this endeavor as you see fit. Planetary invasion is a capital crime and, however distasteful it may be, can be punished by execution," Qui-Gon said quietly. Padme looked utterly horrified but dad nodded thoughtfully. I winced slightly, thinking of the numbers Biggs had reported for the confirmed kill count Biggs had given us a few hours ago and they were still steadily climbing.
"No! I want him gone, not… not Dead!" Padme whispered in horror. I looked over at her and squeezed her hand gently.
"Qui-Gon only said it could be punished by execution, not had to be," I said gently and Padme's shoulders slackened slightly from my touch and from the realization that she didn't have to kill anyone. "But that means we'll have to take them prisoner. He'll have an army of battle droids at his disposal, we have about a hundred fighters," I said grimly. "We may be able to take on five or six thousand droids but then we'd be overrun - even with EMPs. HK will only be able to shut down the army for about five minutes before the Federation engineers figure out something's horribly wrong and it'll be ten after the shutdown that they have all droids back online. So, unless we can destroy the Lucrehulk control ship - and figure out which one that is - we'll have to retake the palace with a hundred men." I said heavily.
"You wouldn't be hiding an army anywhere, would you?" Hotshot asked sarcastically as her grey-green eyes met Padme's.
"There have been rumors," one of the Queen's handmaidens (Eirtae - I believe) said, "rumors of the Gungans having an army…"
"Gungans?" Dad spat, "I think we would be better off on our own than dealing with those pests."
"Dad," I said quietly. Hotshot's eyes were wide as she looked at me.
"No… No, we can't be thinking of that!?" she squawked, utterly horrified.
"Do we have another choice?" I asked tiredly, "I hate them as much as you do, hell, I had one shot! Not because it compromised mission security but because I would have killed the annoying thing myself!"
"Trident," Qui-Gon said quietly, obviously amused, "I do not believe the Gungans would be too angry about you killing Jar Jar. He was an exile from his city, I know the location and can lead you to it," he said as he pulled a small datapad from his belt and tapped a few commands. I raised my eyebrow as I heard my helmet's alert chirp quietly. "Now you have the coordinates for the Gungan city, I and Dooku could lead a group to determine if they would have a viable army."
"No," I said, shaking my head slowly, as I met his eyes, "we need you and Dooku. Don't you feel it?" The former Jedi looked at me in surprise but closed his eyes and gave himself over to the force and jerked away as if he'd been slapped.
"Finally you sense it, Padawan," Dooku said with a frown, "the shroud of the dark side rests on the planet, the force is warning us of great danger. We must proceed with caution, but is this why you wish for us to accompany you, Perseus?" he asked calmly.
"Well, I did let you make new lightsabers, I thought you'd might like an opportunity to test them out," I snarked only for Padme to smack my shoulder.
"Percy," she said exasperatedly and I just rolled my eyes and smirked.
"Yes, I would ask your assistance in this matter," I said as the table chirped for an incoming Holo Transmission. I raised my eyebrow but pressed the button to accept anyway.
"Greetings Master," HK said as he appeared on the table. "Report: The system has been effectively shut out and are cycling codes. I am currently leaving the lucrehulk station and am approaching Theed. What are your orders?"
"See if you can enter the palace if at all possible. Do you have an estimation for how long the fleet will be out of commission?" I asked as dad nodded once in concession.
"Ten to twenty minutes, master. Suggestion: The Federation has no anti-air cannons but they are in possession of medium tanks with rather respectable turbolaser turrets. The Fist's shields are strong enough to take their combined ordinance for an hour with standard shields and thirteen under fortress capabilities. Observation: Naboo has many fields nearby Theed, would it not be wise to launch the Talon-Striker Fighters and two to three of the newly acquired Interceptors to intercept and destroy these tanks?" I snapped my head up with wide eyes as I met dad's equally wide eyes and immediately started barking orders into the intercom.
"Pilots!" I snapped, "standby. Prep for air to ground combat - you'll be fighting tanks. Eliminate them. Priority targets will be approaching the Fist's landing position if our intel is correct. You will most likely face a heavy fighter presence as well, the Queen has a full wing [1] of N1 Fighters to assist if we can make it to the royal hangar. Once the tanks and battle droids are eliminated, take the fight into orbit. Understood? Go with the Manda."
"Elek, Ad'alor," the few pilots on the bridge snapped before bolting out of the bridge and to the Fist's hangar.
"Captain, Oak," I said and the two snapped to attention, "you two will round out the wing, understood?"
"Elek, Trident," the two said in unison and I couldn't help but grin as they turned and jogged out of the bridge. I had started with twenty of the Striker-Talons but MandalMotors had come through with another two with a further two to finish out the wing. But until those could be arranged Oak and Captain would take command of a squadron each [1].
"Ready to reclaim your home, Queen Amidala?" I asked with a small grin.
"More than you'd ever know," she said with a frown, "I'm coming with you."
"You'll need armor," I shot back immediately. She hesitated but nodded in agreement, not that she was really happy about it. I couldn't help but grin broadly as I took her hand and led her to the Striker's small shop. She gasped as I pulled open the door and saw what was behind the door.
"Percy… What…" she trailed off as she took in the sight of the golden plated armor beside the crimson armorweave bodysuit next to it.
"It turns out," I said with a grin, "that Sabe's and your own measurements are exactly the same. I approached her with this idea when we were stuck on Tatooine. The suit is made out of the beskar we had on hand to trade with you immediately, it's also coated with a gold-chromium leaf we scavenged from a few protocol droids on Tatooine. Watto was actually the one who mentioned it in passing a few years back. Keep in mind, the Chromium won't stop a lightsaber but it'll absorb and redirect a blaster bolt plenty well enough for the beskar to take it in full while the beskar itself can practically tank a turbolaser shot without failing."
"But when did you have time for this!?" she exclaimed as she pressed her hand to the breastplate and looked at the owl-style visor in awe.
"My most elite engineers are also trained Beskar smiths," I said with a shrug. "The helmet's also a bit different than any other in the galaxy; you can pull the face plate up or wear your helmet and detach the visor entirely. I figured you would want your subjects to be able to see your face on occasion but still be protected in situations like this. There are very few internal weapons other than a ray shield mounted to your left arm and repulsors mounted in the bracers. Your boots also have a version of the repulsors in them that are controlled by your helmet, the armor also absorbs any shock of hard landings. So, Queen Amidala, will you accept this gift from Death Watch?" I asked with a smirk.
"I will, Perseus," she said quietly, pulling the helmet off the stand with and onto her head. Padme took in a breath as the helmet booted up, starting with it's security procedures.
"Biosignature recognized: Naberrie, Padme. Primary weapon: ELG-3A Blaster Pistol. Trajectory and maximum effective range calculations completed. Telemetry calibrated. Now connecting to Striker Network and Fist communications network. Sensors calibrated. Welcome, Amidala." The helmet said and Padme was obviously stunned. Regardless of what most people think, Mandalorians helmets possibly one of the most advanced pieces of tech in the Galaxy not counting what it looked like and Padme has the fourth best iteration in the galaxy; only surpassed by my own, the Strikers', and dad's. The helmet could control all of our armor's weapons, flight systems, had a Heads Up Display (HUD), and could give a ballistic calculation in seconds with accounts to windage as well - meaning you could see the path the blaster bolt or slugthrower would take during firing. The way that worked was just by palming the weapon and taking it to the range, the sensors would do the rest - or accessing the few we have on file. Though, it would only speak to you once and that was for the initial donning. There are some other amazing features integrated to all the Strikers (like Macrobinocluars, a rangefinder with trajectory calculations, commlink, hololink, and UV/IV spectrum analysis) but mine and Padme's were the only two with a instant translation setting ripped out of a pair of protocol droids - meaning that no matter what was said the helmet would translate what we were hearing to either Basic (for her) or Mando'a (for me).
"Percy," she whispered, "this is incredible!"
"Yes it is," I said with a broad grin, "now, get dressed, we touch down in two minutes." Her shoulders stiffened but nodded as I turned out of the room and left her to get ready. Mercifully, LT, Hotshot, and a few of her handmaidens jogged passed me to get the Queen prepared to land.
"Master, I have successfully infiltrated the Palace," HK's voice came through my comms almost the instant I pulled my helmet on. I grinned viciously.
"Observe and make sure that none of our vaunted guests leave the Palace, we'll be along shortly."
"Horrified Statement: Master, use extreme caution," HK sounded almost scared and I ran over to the Holo as fast as I could, nothing scared HK.
"HK, give me your visuals on the Fist's Holo." Instantly, anything HK would see popped up on the screen and I, Dooku, and Jinn nearly froze in horror.
"...to it that in the Senate, things stay as they are. I'm sending my apprentice, Darth Maul, to join you."
"Yes my Lord," Nute Gunray said as the holo transmission winked out before his compatriot confirmed my worst fears.
"A Sith Lord here!?"
"Shit," I hissed as I rewound the frame to get a better look at the hooded figure but couldn't make out anything about him.
"It would appear things have become much more complicated," Qui-Gon said as he stroked his beard.
"Most succinct, My Padawan," Dooku growled as the Holo transmission resumed only for it to blink out as HK moved to observe the Nemodians a bit closer. "Though it would appear they are unaware that their battle droids are inoperable…"
"Unfortunately, the ones they have on hand are controlled by a central computer and transmitter in the Palace itself," I grunted as I watched the schematics roll down my visor. "They're trying to make sure that they can reestablish control if they're ever hit by EMPs again."
"Damn," I heard from across the room as Biggs watched the scanners, "Alor! The scanners indicate a Starfighter has just dropped out of hyperspace and has sent a transmission to the surface. Ad'alor, they know something's wrong with the fleet!"
"Wonderful," I hissed, "get us to the ground, stat!"
"Elek, Ad'alor!" Biggs barked back and we were headed to an area well outside of Theed, our Talon Fighters and a pair of Actis Starfighters tearing through the sky around us as the Fist's fortress shields activated. I looked at dad and nodded.
"I'll command the Fist, son. Go reclaim this planet," he said gruffly.
"Elek, Buir," I said as I saluted him as the Fist touched down.
"Percy!" Padme's voice called out as I turned to the door of the bridge. I turned and felt myself grin broadly as I saw the queen with her visor pulled up, her golden armor gleaming brightly over the crimson armorweave and matching cape hanging over her shoulder, a bright silver pistol on one hip and a WESTAR 35 on the other. "What's happening?!"
"They know we're here, come on, we have to get to the city."
XXX
"That… That was too easy," I said quietly as the small gunship landed in the Naboo Royal hangar. We flew over the city and destroyed droid tank after droid tank in our path and things were almost too easy.
"It was," Padme said as she settled her visor into place and looked around the hangar as five heavies, her palace guard, all twenty four pilots she managed to find on the way here, and a few standard troops filed out of the Gunship with Phantom, LT, Golem, and Hotshot who all stepped out along with the master and padawan.
"Something is wrong," Qui-Gon said quietly. I nodded in agreement but was mildly impressed by the fact that the wing of starfighters was already screaming out of the hanger to reinforce my troops. 'And they're fast too… Probably almost a match for the Actis. But they still look like they'd be crushed by the Talons.'
"Yeah, the faster we get to the throne room the better. We have to capture the Nemodians before they get off world. Right now, the Talons are patrolling so they won't get out of here by sky. Oak and Cap will make sure of that," I grunted as Padme nodded, leading the way toward the huge double doors with her guards at her side.
The doors swung open to reveal the terrifying face of the apprentice Sith Zabrak.
"There it is," I muttered as I stared down the Apprentice who had narrowed his yellow eyes at me under his hood.
"We'll take the long way," Padme muttered and I just nodded slowly.
"Kyr'tsad," I barked, "cabour te Nab'alor, t'ad ha'ori'ramikad oyacy. Tayli'bac?" [2]
"Elek, ad'alor," every Heavy and standard commando I had snapped back as they flanked Padme and her guards. I watched them go before turning to stare down the Zabrak again.
"And who the fuck are you?" I growled as I faced the Sith who had thrown his cloak to the floor.
"Maul," he growled as he pulled a saber from his belt.
"Not much for words, are you?" I muttered at the gormless reply but my lips quirked up as I felt more than saw the three suppressing fire Heavies settle in the shadows. I pulled my lightsaber from my belt and watched as the Zabrak did a flashy little spin of his sword until it was horizontal and revealed he had a saber staff. I could have rolled my eyes at the idiotic weapon but I heard two more hisses of Lightsaber ignitions but I turned and activated my bootjets, tearing toward the hangar door at full speed. This didn't surprise Qui-Gon or Dooku at all, they knew what I planned to do. I had told them the main plan repeatedly, after all. The Queen briefed us on the layout of the palace and I knew we couldn't face a Sith in the plasma chambers or reactor cores - too much to go wrong and if we needed backup we weren't going to get it.
On the other hand, there was a conveniently open area right here to engage a target with heavy weapons - hell, you could park the Fist in here if you wanted! I grinned as I felt the Zabrak's rage flare, especially as Qui-Gon and Dooku leapt behind me almost as quickly as I rocketed away. That's when the fun began when my suppressing fire Heavies unleashed hell on the Zabrak in the form of heavy repeating blaster fire from their Staccato Lightning cannons. The Zabrak was faster than I gave him credit for though, deflecting blaster bolts around the hangar wildy until the third heavy leveled a new weapon, the MWC created recently - a thirty caliber, magnetic driven, slugthrower weapon [3].
MWC had managed to get their hands on a Wookie Bowcaster (which by itself was an impressive weapon - who'd have thought that a cross between a blaster and slugthrower was already available in the galaxy?) and a Verpine shatter rifle. The Conglomerate managed to take the best of both weapons and make the most effective slugthrower in the galaxy - and three of my thirty Heavies had them. It looked remarkably similar to the Conglomerate's Staccato Lightning that most of my Heavies were armed with but the tech difference was astounding. I would have used it myself but it was just so heavy, at a whopping hundred and ten pounds the weapon was hard to drag around but by Hades was it effective. I've seen the slugthrower take down, no, tear through (admittedly small) Krait Dragons with ease and right now Maul was even more pissed than the angriest one I had ever seen. With a roar of pain, Maul leapt toward the three Heavies that were under heavy cover and I saw that his eye and side of his face was ruined but he was still raging.
With Dooku and Qui-Gon at my side with our lightsabers lit, we intercepted the raging, crippled Zabrak. Dooku went high while Qui-Gon went low, intercepting the backstroke as the Zabrak tried to kill both simultaneously.
The Zabrak was obviously lost to the dark side, raging and roaring as he swiped at the Count's hand with the back of his staff before throwing Qui Gon toward one of the open ship slips and into the wall with a horrible crack! I took Qui Gon's place and knew I caught Maul's attention when I engaged my magboots on the partially durasteel floor, preventing the Zabrak from throwing me like he just tossed Qui Gon. He roared and force pushed Dooku away, leaving me alone to face this monstrously fast assassin. He went high, then low, before doing a flip over his saberstaff and booted me square in the mask. I stumbled away but intercepted his strike on my crossguard, obviously surprising the Zabrak but he recovered by trying to sweep my legs, I jumped the strike but apparently that was just what he wanted as he held out his hand and I was launched backward through the hangar door and into open air. I tried to activate my jetpack but, to my horror, I was still being dragged down by the Zabrak's use of the force.
I fought down my scream as I fell like a stone down the edge of the cliff and into the water below. I felt my breath hitch as I slammed into the water. Electricity coursed through my veins as I felt the water bend to my will like the Force itself - but with much, much more intensity. I felt my lips pull into a feral grin as my helmet's vacuum seal released itself and I took in a deep drag of water into my lungs. Everything I had been told screamed this was a terrible idea but the only thing I felt was energized. I felt incredible, powerful… And I knew I could face the Sith now. I let go of my control like I was using the Force and felt more than knew that I was screaming away like a blaster bolt toward the waterfall. There was a sudden change in direction as I found the base of the falls and flew upward through the falls until I was launched into open air with water spinning around me like a living, giant, snake.
The first thing I noticed when I came back to myself was that Maul, Dooku, and Jinn were all back at it once again but this time the Jedi were playing it smart and moving to the sides so the Heavies could get a few shots in occasionally but I was even more impressed with the fact that the Heavies were aiming for places the Zabrak's saberstaff wouldn't reach easily. Unfortunately, that meant that the Zabrak was about to break - even worse was the fact that his rage and hate just made him that much stronger. This had to end, now.
I snarled and focused on the water around me, willing it to wrap around the Zabrak and harden into ice as I used the Force to tear his lightsaber from his hand after Dooku split it in two with a well timed strike. The Zabrak's eye widened in fury as he roared and raged until he could form coherent words.
"Release me or I will kill you a thousand times!" He howled as the ice started to crack around him. I poured even more of my focus into keeping it in one piece but the Dark Side was raging through him unlike anything I had ever seen - right up until it left him. The air shuddered as Phantom appeared with his hand on the clasp of the Force restraining collar on his neck.
"I don't think so, Apprentice," I sneered as I turned to the Jedi while the Sith howled some more but I nearly collapsed. That took more out of me than I thought… I instinctively found myself summoning some of the water holding Maul and wrapping it around myself again, it wasn't nearly enough to completely help but it was enough for the heavies to properly arrest Maul. I dropped the rest of the water once he was fully secured and almost fell to my knees - I was utterly exhausted, but knew this wasn't over yet.
"Ad'alor, ke'gyce'e?" the slugthrower Heavy asked in only the way a professional soldier could. [4]
"Basic, Fett," I said tiredly, "the Jedi will need to know the plan too, they can't speak Mando'a." [5]
"Yes, sir," he said and stood waiting.
"Move out to the throne room, the Queen should be getting there soon. Did she have the Destroyer countermeasures with her?"
"Yes, sir. Wren, Eldar, and Rook were her escort."
"Even better," I grinned. "Move out."
XXX
"Nute Gunray, you stand in violation of Republic law, how do you plead?" Padme proclaimed as she took her helmet off and tucked it under her arm.
"You - you have allied with the Mandalorians!?" Nute squealed as I walked around the corner.
"Aye, she has, but I thought the armor would have made that clear enough, Gunray," I said with a vicious smirk as Qui-Gon, Dooku, Phantom and my heavies dragged the shackled Maul in between them. The look on the Nemodian's face? Priceless! He looked like he was stuck somewhere between needing to shit himself or passing out on the smooth marble floor. I was grinning almost stupidly but before he could do either of those, I heard the familiar snap-hiss of an igniting lightsaber and I knew something was about to go horribly wrong.
I threw myself in front of Padme without a second thought as out of the corner of my eye I saw that Dooku had whirled around with his blade raised and had intercepted some form of attack on his saber. I wasn't even able to squint before I watched in horror as my helmet flew across the room to my left - but that wasn't the real problem. The problem was that whoever Dooku had been fighting wasn't alone. I don't know how I knew but I did, and I wasn't about to let this intruder do anything that could hurt Padme or anyone else here. I growled as I activated my lightsaber and prepared to fight, charging to help the former Jedi Master as Qui Gon found a position guarding the Queen.
I ran toward the former Jedi and almost fell flat on my face as the Force screamed in warning, forcing me out of the way of a completely unseen attack. I fought against the urge to faceplant and instead, my arm and lightsaber snapped up as something slammed against my glowing blue blade and slid down the lightsaber until it came to rest at the crux of my crossguard and blade. I hissed and went for a slightly unorthodox attack, unleashing a hellishly powerful left hook at the still invisible opponent and drove through. I recovered and brought my lightsaber up and around in an arc that would have taken their head from their shoulders, only for the blade to pass harmlessly through empty air - apparently that punch did more damage than I thought. I actually watched as the non-so-invisible-anymore opponent I was fighting crumpled to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut as the Force Cloak dropped away to reveal a female Mirialan in what were obviously Jedi robes. I felt my blood run cold as I examined the Mirialan a bit closer and finally saw that her robes were black and white instead of the standard browns. My head snapped up as I searched the room and realized Dooku was fighting for his life. I barely thought about what I was doing, just letting the Force flow through me.
"Dooku! Shadows!" I barked as I scooped up the Mirialan's sword, took two steps forward, and hurled the blade in front of Dooku as hard as I could. The weapon, being made from some form of metal, impacted heavily with the invisible opponent the Count was facing with a dull thump. There was a scream of pain as that one's cloak dropped away like water, revealing a human male that had been transfixed by the double edged sword sticking through his side half a foot from where he was before. I almost winced, there was no way he could have avoided or deflected the sword with the speed I had sent it at him - especially if it was lightsaber resistant.
"Tyin," Dooku said quietly, having obviously recognized the grievously injured shadow facing him, but I had torn my eyes away to see what other chaos had been unleashed. I whirled around to see that the Heavies and the Strikers were guarding Padme - with Jinn beside her - or the Zabrak - rightly figuring that they would be of little to no help against the invisible Shadows. The Zabrak was furious at being surrounded by a trio of Mandalorians with no defense otherwise but couldn't make any other moves.
"High Shadow," this Tyin muttered as he fell to his knees. I saw a glimmer out of the side of my eye and saw that a familiar collar had been fixed to the Mirialan's neck. I grinned savagely at having a Shadow to finally interrogate.
"So the Council of First Knowledge has made their move. How… Disappointing," Dooku growled as he deactivated his lightsaber and picked up the fallen blade that Tyin had dropped. "And you have abandoned your lightsaber in favor of this relic, I see."
"It's m-made of Phrik, High Shadow," Tyin gasped and I raised an eyebrow as I realized what he was doing.
"Ah," Dooku said quietly as he knelt down at the young man's side. "Shall we get you to medical?"
"I… I…" The young man muttered before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he toppled over before Dooku could catch him. He landed directly on the sword's pommel. I winced at the wheezing gasp the young man made as Dooku rolled him on his back with wide eyes. I looked back at Padme and realized something else, my helmet was still lying across the throne room from where (assumingly) the Mirialan had thrown it with the Force.
"Oh, shit," I muttered as I looked around the Throne room and realized that everyone from the Zabrak to the Nemodian knew exactly who I was - and that wasn't counting the native Nubians in the room who had already ran out when the second fight of the day started.
"Yes," Padme said quietly as she walked away from Qui Gon and up beside me with worry shining in her eyes that she couldn't voice yet, "I think that sums up this situation quite well."
"Who are you!?" the Nemodian barked as he pointed an accusatory finger toward me - as well as he could in handcuffs.
I sighed and looked at Dooku and Qui Gon and knew exactly what this attack was meant to do - and by the looks on their faces, so did they. Looks like the Jedi won this round…
"I am Perseus, of the House and Clan Vizsla. Apprentice to the head of my father's security force and Envoy to the Mandalorian Nation of the greater galaxy," I said, flying by the seat of my pants as the rest of the Mandalorians realized what I was doing - at least in part. "You see, I have quoted Mand'alor the Destroyer on many occasions but perhaps you don't know the quote in full. Let me educate you: 'Here's why you can't exterminate us. We're not huddled in one place—we span the galaxy. We need no lords or leaders—so you can't destroy our command. We can live without technology—so we can fight with our bare hands. We have no species or bloodline—so we can rebuild our ranks with others who want to join us. We're more than just a people or an army. We're a culture. We're an idea. And you can't kill ideas—but we certainly can kill you.'" I said calmly as the rest of the room hung on my every word as a rather pudgy man that we had met in the hangar on the day we extracted the Queen walked in with his eyes wide in utter shock. The stranger thing was the fact that Dad (in the attire he wore before the Senate), Oak, and Cap (both in full armor) walked in with him - well, at least I know they succeeded… "My father," dad's eyes narrowed but he nodded to me and I nodded in return, "was contacted by one of these tribes, these Mandalorians of old, and allowed me to train with them to become the best Mandalorian I could be to help govern my people! Though it seems Mandalore is in dire need of an alliance, not another leader." I said as I turned back to Padme, fully in her Queen Amidala persona, and offered her my Lightsaber.
"Queen Amidala," I said with a small smirk before I took a knee in front of her as the tension in the room spiked. "I offer my service as a Mandalorian, I offer my honor as the heir of Clan Vizsla, I offer my skills as your bodyguard."
"I accept your proposition, Mandalorian. I offer you meat at my table, seas to sail upon, and path forward. For Mandalore."
"For Naboo," I said with a grin as Padme ignited my saber and held it over my shoulder before retracting it, offering it to me sideways so the blade was pointed away from both of us. I took the blade from her as she said:
"Come, Perseus, we have work to do."
