A/N - I am also finishing up a chapter of 'Fires' soon. My much maligned impending travel has been whittled down too. BIG mahalo to Bald as Malak for a wonderful beta read. hugs The devil is in the details.

We look here at Malak, Canderous, and Atton with some of their inner workings. The Mandalorian's past comes into play and I wanted to tie him in with the other fic I wrote much earlier, which, by the way, I'll be slowly updating to account for the fact that I played KOTOR II after I wrote it. I also want to show some of the skills Atton shows in the game and why he does them.

Not to Reason Why – Part II

Somewhere Near Malachor VII

Aboard the RNS Indefatigable, a spark of electricity arced from the overheads, connecting with several crewmen on the bridge. Screams and acrid smoke filled the room along with blaring klaxons and blinking lights. Malak picked himself up off of the deck and brushed his blond hair away from his eyes.

"Damage report," he said calmly as smoke wafted from his red body armor.

"Shields are collapsing… engine power is down thirty percent, Malak," answered Bandon with a noticeable tremor in his voice.

A torpedo from one of Bendak's vessels slammed into the shields of the great ship, but did not penetrate. A shower of shrapnel and blast cascaded over the failing shield in a brilliant display of violence, causing all to flinch. Fear infected the crew as they wailed and dove for cover.

Commander Nisotsa, another renegade Jedi with curly blond hair, pushed the dead helmsman from the chair and quickly took the seat. "Malak, we must withdraw – The Ordo force is too much."

Veins bulged along Malak's muscular neck and his cheek twitched for just a moment. He looked up at the flickering holograph to see his fleet besieged by the fury of the Mandalorians. Enemy Basilisk Droids and starfighters darted around his ships and Bendak's fleet pounded at his formations, wearing them down.

Thoughts of Revan's rebuke came at him and he wavered for a moment in his resolve.

Run…turn my back at the moment I have given my life for? How can I do that? What did we leave the Order behind for if not to stand and fight? I would be no better than the ineffectual, moralizing Vrook or the sniveling, fearful Bastila…a creature no better than a Kinrath pup.

Malak brushed the soot from his armor and made a fist at the enemy. "No, we stand here and now," he declared in a clear voice for all to hear. He refocused himself on his duty and higher purpose and put aside his own ambition…for a time. "I am Revan's rock and I will not flinch before the enemy."

Nisotsa turned and looked back at the fleet commander and the fear that Malak saw faded away. "I…I am sorry, Malak. I am with you…from now until the void."

Bandon grit his teeth and nodded along with the dark-haired woman, Carriaga Sin. Malak looked about and his boyish grin returned. "Bring our good shields to bear," he ordered, having Nisotsa turn the huge ship. He then turned to Bandon and pointed to the hologram. "Have the reserves create a defense in depth to absorb the attack. Transmit to Revan that we are ready."

Bandon quickly sent the message that Malak was fixing the Mandalorians in place for Revan's hammer to fall.

Near Malachor VII

The universe was spinning madly for Canderous Ordo and burning gasses streaked from tiny fissures in his Basilisk Droid. The wave of energy and debris had thrown him toward Malachor VII and he tumbled out of control.

As he spun away, he caught a glimpse of Kelborn and Bralor rocketing away and targeting another Republic ship.

He tried to activate his commlink, but the rapid whirling made it too difficult to reach the switch. It did not matter anyway – he would die a warrior's death and his comrades need not be distracted by such his final words.

The icy world of Malachor VII grew quickly in Canderous' disjointed view and he fought his own nausea to realign his thrusters. His hands pressed down on his damage control systems and rerouted power. With a grunt, he pushed down on one of the droid's stabilizers. Thruster fire poured from the nose of the craft and the wild yawing of the droid came to an abrupt halt.

Canderous grunted as bile built in his throat and he focused his eyes ahead on the massive planet – it was of no use to turn away as he was already caught in the gravity well of the world and his droid was too damaged to escape. He clenched his teeth as the droid's damaged computer calculated an entry solution.

"I'm going in…I'm going in hot," he said to himself.

The external temperature gauge climbed steadily as the droid's thick armor began to glow and flames shrouded its form. Condensation built up in his suit until steam began to form before his eyes.

I'm going to be boiled alive, he thought, cold to his impending doom, but the droid held and he plunged through the stratosphere toward the planet below. Soon, air buffeted the droid and g forces washed over his body like a crushing weight and his hands became like lead. His speed indicator spiked up and the skin around his leathery face peeled back and he howled in pain as his bones bent under the pressure of acceleration.

Lower and lower he fell, his droid screaming through the thicker layers of atmosphere. 10 kilometers…5 kilometers…2 kilometers…1… The glacier-like ground was nearly upon him and his vision grayed to nearly black.

With sheer force of will, he pulled back the nose of the diving droid and jammed what was left of his throttle to maximum. The engines screamed in protest as Canderous' internal organs sloshed downward. With his fading vision, he saw the legs of the droid plant in soft snow.

Then, the Mandalorian knew no more.

The big man's mind swirled in dark unconsciousness. Ghostlike images of battles and duels floated about. For a moment, he was standing in the dark clan hall as a youth, tall and gangly, his vibrodagger held point down over his heart. He nodded proudly at Jagi, Ergeron, and his brother, Cantaris, as he accepted his helmet from the clan elders, the scar from his manhood duel still fresh on his cheek.

And then, he went back in time, replaying the swordfight in his mind – the older man's sword slicing deep into his face, knocking him back, but at the same time, his dagger finding the man's sternum with a thrust. As the man lay, mortally wounded, he prophesied the end of the Mandalorians because of their own conquests. "We will awaken something…that we cannot defeat," he gasped. The dying words uttered by his first kill were lost in Ordo's youthful exuberance as he placed the helmet on his head.

The Clan Elder stood under dim red lights and looked down at the young man as the gathered clan drew their vibrodaggers. "Canderous you are now a Mandalorian Warrior and woe to the vanquished."

Then, his mind was drawn to the bridge of the flagship as the Mandalore raised a vibrosword in victory. "The Althirans are routed," the leader of the clans called, bringing the warriors to a frenzy.

The greatest of Mandalorian warriors, Ergeron, Kelborn, Bralor, Sherruk, Geratt, Xarga, Zuka, and Cantaris stood around Canderous, chanting and hammering the hilts of their vibrodaggers on their breastplates. In the excitement of the moment, no one saw the darkness on Ordo's face – he had lost a friend. Jagi had been slain in the diversion that allowed Canderous to break the Althiran line.

Ergeron turned back and Canderous put his warface back on. Ergeron sensed his feelings. "He died a warrior, my friend. There are no regrets. It is not the way of Mandalore," he said.

Ordo nodded stiffly and clapped his hand on Ergeron's shoulder. "You are right as always. We will have more glory heaped upon us soon. I hear that the Jedi have entered the war and that some young, unblooded whelp named Revan leads one of their pathetic fleets."

Ergeron laughed out loud. "They are indeed desperate. The war should be over soon, I think. And when the Republic falls…we shall find another foe to defeat. Do you recall their Admiral Vrex? It brought me immense pleasure to watch their bureaucracy collapse as turbolasers tore their ships apart. I particularly enjoyed hearing their panicked, screaming requests to begin evasive maneuvering being rejected because they were in the wrong format."

Canderous returned the laugh. "At least they died with proper punctuation."

"Well, let us crush this…this Revan with our iron fists."

Ordo's mind swirled again and now he was fleeing beside the Mandalore as Republic starfighters ripped apart Mandalorian capital ships around the Vortex System.

They had met Revan at last.

Canderous was tempted to turn his droid about and launch another counterattack, but the Mandalore's voice broke his thoughts.

"Canderous, you must understand. We will fight again another day – we must regroup…at Dxun."

Ordo shuddered and the face of an old woman materialized before him and she spoke in a venomous voice, her pupil-less eyes looking through him. "You will protect her and see that she comes to no harm," the crone ordered and Canderous nodded firmly – he would be willing to give his life to fulfill this task.

In the crook of his arm, he held a helmet – the helm of the Mandalore.

Then, a dim light shown through in Ordo's mind and he felt someone slapping his scarred cheek. His eyelids flickered open and he returned to the present. He slowly focused on a red-haired woman and a familiar face – Xarga.

Xarga grinned, pointing to the wrecked Basilisk Droid. "Gutsiest move I ever saw, Canderous. Welcome to Malachor Seven."

Malachor V – Serphants Stronghold

Atton lay on the ground, one of his eyes swollen shut. He coughed weakly, tasting blood in his mouth. Everything in his mind screamed for him to stay down, to beg for mercy, to tell Serphants all he knew.

But this was Atton Rand and he was never known for listening to sage advice – even his own.

Reverse the three, get eighteen. Draw a two…pure Pazaak.

He dug his hands into his thighs and struggled to his feet. He fixed his stare directly back into Serphant's eyes.

"He's got moxie, I'll give him that," voiced the masked man in gray, shaking his head. "Why don't you just kill him and be done with it?"

The clan chief looked over to the man. "Wasn't it you Sith that taught me to delight in pain? I have to beat this man to a pulp now because your promised intervention never happened? Why was that, Master Uthar Wynn? Do the Sith have no belly for war?" he said sarcastically as he drove his fist into Atton's ribs, doubling the operative over.

Throw five for ten. Time to draw…get a seven…damn, not the best card.

Uthar shrugged as Atton sagged to one knee – he could barely believe the abuse that the man had taken in spite of his Sith background. The beating would have killed any other man. "My apologies, Serphants…the Sith Masters deemed your cause to be hopeless and we are not yet in a position to engage the Republic in open war. Why, the whole Exar Kun fiasco-"

Atton pulled himself back up and stared back at Serphants defiantly. The chief pounded the operative in the jaw, spinning him around and blood sprayed on Master Uthar.

"You Sith are essentially useless," Serphants retorted and he kicked Atton in the head, knocking him flat. As the operative sputtered and gasped, Serphants looked over a datapad with information on the man. "So…Jaq…tell me why you're here. How do you contact your superiors? Who is your handler here?"

What do you know…a three. Pure Pazaak. Then, the operative's mind flew to a distant beach where he sat with his Jedi contact, listening to the waves. He leaned over and took her passionately as the water lapped at his feet.

To the side, the Sith Master looked strangely at Atton, gleaning the images from the operative's mind. Uthar pursed his lips, wondering how this man could think of such things while in such dire straits.

As Serphants watched in silence, Atton put the palm of his hand on the ground and pushed himself up. He rose to one knee and then back on his feet as Uthar shook his head, his eyes wondering – no one could still rise after what he had been through…no one.

On steady legs, he looked Serphants in the eye again and spoke through swollen lips. "I'm here to see the end of the Mandalorians and…don't look now, but she'd right behind you."

The sound of a lightsaber powering up tore the quiet apart and the Jedi, Kayla cut down two of Serphants' guards with rapid strokes. The chief's eyes opened wide and Atton leapt on the bigger man, howling like a lunatic.