The Right Tools

"They don't look so dangerous in pieces, do they?" Mandalore asked, without expecting an answer, as he appraised the battered remnants of three black-plated assassin droids that lay on top of an examining table in the Mandalorian enclave's command building.

"They put too much confidence in their shuttle's stealth capabilities." Kelborn grated, "Our sensors detected it and I immediately dispatched an ambush party to the projected landing site. All three droids were destroyed before they could get off a shot."

"Good work Kelborn, I can see that placing you in charge during my absence was the right choice. Now tell me, do you know what they were looking for?"

"No, Mandalore, there was nothing in the ship's memory banks, not even a hyperspace jump record, and our efforts to salvage data from the droid's memory cortexes have also met failure. We are not even sure what model these droids are."

Mandalore didn't need to take a second look at the droid remains to realize they looked almost exactly like the HK-47 droid he had seen accompanying Revan and Evrain. But these droids appeared much newer than HK-47, their plating still retained a deep black finish where it wasn't scored by blaster fire while HK-47's plating had been battered and faded.

"I've seen a droid like these before," Mandalore said, "find out what you can about HK series droids. Have all three droids' heads put in a carrying case and transferred to my ship. I'll be going to Iziz once my ship is ready."

"I advise caution when you go to Onderon, Mandalore. Queen Talia has issued orders that any Mandalorian found on Onderon be arrested."

"Really?"

"Her men tried to arrest Kex when he was making a supply run. He killed four of them before he was captured. Then we killed another twenty or so when we broke him out. Last week she authorized her soldiers to use deadly force on us."

"So that's how she's decided to repay us for securing her throne for her. Has she attempted to locate our enclave?"

"Not yet. I've already taken the precaution of making sure that every ship we send to Onderon is equipped with stealth devices, fluctuating transponder codes, and that the Mandalorians flying them are disguised. Fortunately, no one down there has seen our faces."

"You've done well Kelborn, now I have one more instruction. Order Bralor to meet me at my ship when it's ready, and tell him to wear plain clothes."


Kiph half-jumped out of his seat when he heard a loud creak outside his door and fumbled to grab his blaster pistol before pointing it at the door with shaky hands. After a few tense moments, the Twi'lek scrutinized the camera and motion sensor feeds on the computer display. He saw nothing on the cameras and only background vibrations on the motion sensors.

Vermin, just vermin, Kiph decided, they crawl all over this place, along the floors and in the walls.

The building Kiph was hiding in was abandoned and on the brink of collapse; even the squatters had abandoned it. Other than the fugitive slicer the building's only other denizens were insects and rats.

Kiph was nervous, and had been ever since eluding capture by Queen Talia's soldiers after the chaos following the mess at the Royal Palace. Talia's people had been quick to liquidate his credit account, but a slicer understands the necessity of redundancies. Kiph had enough credits stashed away–and enough intelligence–to consistently stay a step ahead of Onderonian security.

The Twi'lek stood up from his desk and peeked out of the small room's only window. Beast-Rider thugs stalked the street around the building he had chosen, and Onderonian security hadn't extended their search to this area because of them. Kiph backed away from the window and, after setting his blaster pistol down, grabbed his container of stimulant pills from inside the computer desk and swallowed three of them, then turned back to the computer console.

Kiph dropped the container of stim pills when a series of loud blaster shots demanded his attention as the small room's only door splintered and then disintegrated into wooden splinters. The slicer looked frantically for his blaster pistol before he felt a sharp impact on his forehead.

When Kiph regained his bearings he found himself on his back staring up at two large men that were looming over him. The men wore the baggy clothes representative of most Onderonians but Kiph was certain they were not Onderonian. One of them had a shaved head and held two heavy blaster pistols while the other had thick gray hair and carried a small blaster carbine. Both men's weapons were of Mandalorian manufacture, which Kiph recognized because he had helped smuggle Mandalorian arms before.

"So you didn't hit him too hard after all, did you Bralor?" asked the man with the carbine. Kiph thought his voice sounded familiar.

"He'll be fine," replied the man with the blaster pistols.

"Who are you?" Kiph asked groggily, and started to stand. He didn't make it far before the man with the assault rifle stopped him from rising with a boot heel to his sternum.

"What did he say?" asked the one with the pistols.

"He asked who we were."

Kiph took a long look at the man with the assault rifle, then recognized his posture and voice, "Mandalore," the man looked at Kiph with an expression that told the Twi'lek he had guessed right. Kiph continued: "You can't be here for the bounty, that would be beneath you. What do you want?"

"You're going to extract information from a droid's head for us."

"Am I going to get paid for this?" Kiph asked.

"Your payment will be getting off this planet."

"Considering my circumstances, I'm willing to accept that commission."

"Good, we need to get moving."

"Give me a moment to get my tools–"

"Now," Mandalore grated.


"How did they find out you were here?" Mandalore asked, waving a hand in the direction of the Onderonian military blockade.

"I took every precuation!" Kiph protested, "maybe they tracked you and your friend here."

Mandalore shot an angry glare at Kiph then looked back at the blockade. Nearly two dozen soldiers armed with blaster rifles covered the entire breadth of the street. The officer in command was only letting citizens pass one at a time. Mandalore looked at the dead end of the alley, whose entrance he stood at, and muttered a curse, then turned around when he heard Bralor approaching.

"How is the other end of the street?"

"It's blocked as well. Mandalore, these Onderonians are soft, we can easily blast our way through them, even without our armor."

"We can't blow our cover just yet or they'll shut down the space port before we can even get near."

"Look!" Kiph said.

Mandalore turned in the direction the Twi'lek was pointing and saw a crowd of Beast-Rider thugs, armed with a mix of blades and blasters, approaching the blockade.

"Well, this problem just may solve itself," Mandalore said.

"Halt! Lower your weapons and don't come any further!" shouted the Onderonian officer.

"Or what?" retorted the man who stood at the head of the Beast-Rider gang, brandishing a blaster pistol, "you're outnumbered."

"Men, take aim! I'm warning you–"

A laser bolt from the Beast-Rider leader's blaster pistol cut the officer's warning short and the Onderonians and Beast Riders peremptorily opened fire on each other. Onderonian blaster fire decimated the first line of Beast-Riders before the bulk of the Beast-Rider mob crashed into the Onderonian blockade and the fight turned from one of blasters to one of vibroblades. The Beast-Riders were soon celebrating their victory.

"That was pathetic," Bralor said, "like watching children fight."

The Beast-Riders didn't have long before the Onderonian military forces who had been blockading the other side of the street came over to avenge their fallen comrades. Many of the Beast-Riders fell against the Onderonian reinforcements but the remaining Beast-Riders took advantage of what cover they could find, often turning over street vendor stands, and returned fire.

"We'll take advantage of the chaos while it lasts," Mandalore said, and retrieved a metallic armband from the folds of his robes, then handed it to Kiph. "Strap this on to your arm and hit the green button."

"I know how to use a personal shield," Kiph said, and did just what Mandalore had told him to do.

"I trust you also know how to keep your head down," Mandalore didn't wait for Kiph to respond, "Bralor, lead the way."

The blaster fight between the Onderonian military forces and the Beast-Riders had hit a stalemate, with neither side yielding. Bralor activated his personal shield and drew a blaster, then darted out from the cover of the alley and ran down the length of the street in a half-crouch with Kiph and Mandalore following shortly behind.

Mandalore nearly ran into Kiph when the Twi'lek stumbled over the body of a civilian who had been killed in the crossfire. Kiph stopped to stare at the open-eyed corpse.

"Keep moving dammit!" Mandalore shouted. Mandalore heard the whine of a blaster bolt glancing off his shield then pulled his carbine free and riddled the Beast-Rider who had fired on him. Mandalore turned back to Kiph to see him cowering with his hands over his head and promptly shoved the Twi'lek. "I said move!"

Mandalore heard blaster fire directly ahead and saw Bralor dispatch a Beast-Rider. Kiph got back on his feet and the three proceeded haphazardly across what had become a battle zone.

Mandalore took a brief look backwards and saw the Onderonians forming a line. They're going to try and storm the Beast-Riders. "Take cover!" he shouted. The three took cover under an arch in front of a door and Mandalore leaned out to watch as the line of Onderonians unleashed a volley of suppressing fire and charged forward. Then he heard the nearly-deafening fire of a heavy repeater and watched its bolts issue from a second story window to decimate the Onderonian advance. There was a temporary halt to the blaster fire.

"It's safe for now," Mandalore said, "Kiph, don't stop again or I'm going to knock you out and carry you the rest of the way."

"In this situation, I would consider that to be a favor," the Twi'lek responded.

"Good, it just may come to that."

The blaster fire started up again, but without the same intensity it had before. Whoever fired that repeater is probably relocating, Mandalore thought as he led Kiph and Bralor out from the door threshold's cover, and through the first alley that led to another street.

The three continued to cut through alleys on the way to the spaceport, spending as little time on the streets as possible, and avoiding the numerous Onderonian patrols. At length they stepped out of the last alley and into the merchant quarter. The plaza was largely empty.

"Is it usual for the merchant quarter to be this quiet?" Bralor asked.

"I haven't gotten out much for the past few weeks," Kiph said, "Was it busy earlier today?"

"Not significantly," Mandalore replied, looking over the inactivity, "but it was certainly busier than this."

"Maybe the people heard about the scuffle with the Beast-Riders," Bralor suggested.

"There's only a handful of guards at the spaceport gates," Mandalore said.

"They'll be watching for me," Kiph cautioned.

"We're aware of that," Mandalore said.

"It doesn't look like the security turrets are back online," Bralor observed.

"What about the tower guns?" Kiph asked.

"We'll be well into the atmosphere before they even know to be looking for us," said Mandalore.

"You'll only have two minutes before they lock down the spaceport hangers," said Kiph.

"That will be more than enough time. Bralor, take out the two guards on the left, I'll take care of the other three. Kiph, stay here and catch up when the last guard falls."

"This will be too easy Mandalore," Bralor laughed as he activated his personal shield and adjusted his pistols within the folds of his robes for easier access.

"We'll close to fifteen meters and fire," Mandalore said, activating his own shield.

"I'll need to see your passes," said one of the guards as the Mandalorians approached; that guard didn't have enough time to react by the time he saw Bralor's blaster pistol, and the guard beside him had only started to raise his blaster rifle when a laser bolt from Bralor's other blaster struck his chest. The other three guards, who stood by the gate itself, were riddled by Mandalore's carbine before they could turn around.

When the bodies fell and didn't stir, Mandalore and Bralor turned around to see Kiph staring at the carcasses; the Twi'lek looked greener than usual.