Chapter 39

After Mission got the wall to fall and they made the call to Skye and the team advanced into what was known as the Lower Shadowlands. Not that they had explored much of the 'upper' lands nor cared to.

Not one of them had any interest in doing favours for an old Jedi has-been. Let Skye jump through their hoops, they were doing enough of it as it was for Chuundar. Finding Roworr's body put one Wookiee down and now they only had to find Freyyr and bring him back to the village. Finding this lost male would get the poser off the Rwookrrorro throne but start the rebellion against Czerka. But that wouldn't get the Companions any closer to the real target; why they came to Kashyyyk in the first place: the Star Map.

Mission's priority was to get Big Z back; she didn't care about any other junk right now. When she heard the sounds of battle seeping out from the undergrowth, part of her wanted to rush and see what was the cause and who was doing the fighting. The other part of her- the street kid part- knew heading towards the sounds of fighting was a good way to get hit in the crossfire.

Then the familiar growls of a Wookiee roared over the crescendo of battle.

"Better check it out, could be our boy Freyyr." Carth said drawing his blaster. "We know Czerka is in the area. Could be them."

"Yeah well we can't let those frackers kill Big Z's pop."

"Hey!" Carth scowled at the teenager. "Language," he said in a very fatherly voice.

Mission withdrew her own blaster. "Really? You just said "language" to me?"

"It just slipped out." Carth quipped. Then frowned once more. "Admit it. Skye would have done the same."

"Maybe."

"You done playing daddy-dearest?" Canderous grumbled, "We've got a rug to save." He moved off towards the sounds of battle, more than ready to engage in armed conflict, wasting creepy-crawlies was a waste of bullets and no true challenge, lest not for him. Good for the Kid though.

"Query: why save the walking carpet from the meatbags? Our task was to stop the Mad Claw. The meatbags kill the rug and our job is done. Amendment: killing meatbags is always an enjoyable pastime." HK said reaching for his heavy repeating blaster. "Let's go kill someone."

The roars grew more intense as did the clang of metal. Whoever the Wookiee was battling it was with swords. What they found caused Canderous to pause. He recognized what he saw almost immediately. It was a Mandalorian battle circle, complete with five Neo-Crusaders.

The Wookiee was seriously wounded; his gray fur matted with blood, he would not last long, even armed with a vibro-longsword At his feet was one dead Mandalorian and several more Wookiee corpses. The Mandalorians were cheering on their brother. Each taking a blow at the unarmed Wookiee if he stepped outside the ring.

"Mando cowards!" Carth bellowed. He targeted the first bucket head he saw and fired.

His incensed battle-cry turned the heads of the Mandalorians as well as their weapons. It took less than a fraction of a second for the thugs to open fire. Their first volley nearly dropped HK who was charging directly for them. Enemy blaster-fire poured down, forcing the Companions then to duck, dodge, and weave, but none of the bolts found their mark.

Canderous, Carth and HK managed to open up a volley of their own pinning down the Mandies behind tangled roots. Mission skidded to a halt, dropping to her knees and sliding the last few meters across the cluttered underbrush to join them. Mission could have sworn HK flashed her a fierce grin. How in the hell could solid metal make an expression? the Kid didn't know but it was there.

Moving in unison, Canderous and Carth popped up from behind the roots to fire at the enemy. The blaster-fire ricocheted harmlessly off the armour plating, and they were forced to duck again when the Mandies, dispersed leaving their tormented prey. The Wookiee tripped backwards crawling for cover.

With their numbers, even, the battle quickly turned into a rout. The carnage lasted less than five minutes before the Mandies ranks broke. Mission didn't even bother to participate in the final minutes of the slaughter. She'd known the battle was over the instant HK took point with the guys taking flanking cover.

The Mandalorians weren't prepared to face a largely psychotic and homicidal droid, two sharp shooters and a kid taking pot shots at their heads. After they fell, Mission darted out from cover to the wounded Wookiee. The male snarled at her taking a swipe at her but Mission was far enough away not to get hit.

"Whoa whoa, look we're here to help. We 'aint Czerka sleemos and we sure as hell ain't Mandies- well…" she stopped and thought better of saying anything about Canderous. Life on the streets taught her when to keep her mouth shut. Now was one of those times.

"You Freyyr?"

"You know that name?" The Wookiee climbed to his feet, his body shivering in pain.

Mission crept closer, her hand going closer to a pouch on her waist, from which she took out several syrettes of kolto. "Yeah, we're here to rescue him. Sorta put things right back at your village," she handed the medpacks to the wounded male. "Here- got medpacks. You're pretty banged up and crap, take 'em. They'll help so, you know, you don't bleed out and all."

A trembling hand reached out and took the syrettes as he did, HK translated the Wookiee's words.

"So answer the Kid, you the guy we're looking for?" Canderous demanded. "You Freyyr?"

The Wookiee injected himself with the medpacks. He stood up straighter as the kolto coursed through his body targeting the distressed areas, sealing the wounds. "No. I'm Grrrwahrr."

"What are you doing down here?" Carth asked.

"This is my planet; I don't have to have a reason to be here. Why are you here?" Grrrwahrr returned.

"Not much for listening, huh? Like I said we're looking for Freyyr so he can help us get that poser off the throne so I can get my buddy back, kick the slimeo slavers off your world. Oh and find the Star Map." Mission said

"You are here for a lot," the Wookiee studied the Companions.

Carth looked at the bodies, all of them heavily riddled with blaster and slash wounds. "I'd ask why the Mandies were after you but they don't need a reason to hunt innocents. They hunted farmers on Dantooine just for shits and giggles. What do you have to say about them being here, Canderous. You're one of them."

"Oh no…" Mission winced for Carth's stupidity. Was it any wonder Skye had to take command on Taris. How could someone so dumb become a bridge officer in the Republic Navy? You never spill stuff to anyone you're not 100% about. And never stuff like this, stuff that turns on your crew.

"Mocking chortle: Unwise."

"You said you're not with the hunters." Grrrwahrr growled. Though clearly he was far too weak to fight, for long, the Wookiee would toss himself into a suicide charge if only to find vindication for his fallen brethren.

"We ain't." Mission said quickly. "Canderous is with us and we're with the Jedi. You know the big ass heroes of the Galaxy."

The men behind her all coughed and shuffled a clear signed they disagreed with Mission's admiration.

She rolled her eyes at their shuffling. "Yeah anyway, how come they're down here? They on the payroll of Czerka, ya know cutting down troublemakers? Seen all kinds of stuff like that on Taris. Kang did that all time."

Canderous nodded it was true. "Problem solvers. Likely Czerka used Mandalorians as clean-up crews"

"No." Grrrwahrr shook his head. "They aren't here for that. My hunting party, all of them killed without honor. I barely survived. I want the murderers to suffer the same. They blend with the forest. Armed head to toe. I've never seen their like not even amongst the Czerka.

"They followed us for a long while. We found bodies to the southwest, then again further south after the west branch of the path. Their speed was amazing. They fought like outsiders. Waiting until we were unarmed. They would not attack us unless we put our weapons away! They strike like cowards!"

"Yeah sounds like every Mandi I've ever seen."

"Piss off, you know nothing Onasi. These so called Mandies are clanless, just like those on the Jedi's little grass world. They've forsaken the way…"

"Cut the propaganda. You Mandies have always struck the defenceless. It's your calling card. Strike down the defenceless just so somebody bigger comes along to defend them. It was your whole strategy during the Wars, just to draw out the Jedi."

"The weak either serve or die…"

"Shut it both of you!" Missions snapped. "We got a problem, 'case you haven't noticed. Cuz I also seemed to recall we've got some Dark Jedi – you remember that dark lord wanna be is down here too. And now we have Mandies cutting down anyone not armed. And yeah, Carth's right; picking on the unarmed… seems to me they're just a bunch of pussies who can't fight real fights. Just like those we killed on Dantooine picking on the dirt-farmers." She was trying to sound more like Skye. "Grrrwahrr, we'll find these guys and gut 'em."

The old Wookiee nodded and allowed his body to rest up against a large root. "Thank you. I will wait here. I am too weak to fight them again, but I refuse to leave the Shadowlands again unless vengeance is sated. Please if you kill them I will reward you however I can. They are not worthy of life."

This time it was the assassin droid that translated Grrrwahrr's words and promise. They were to look where the bodies of his fallen comrades. And again, the aged Wookiee reminded them that the Mandies only attacked the unarmed- an act of sheer cowardice.

"I'm not about to walk these lands without my guns, that's just plain stupid. But we can't let those Mandies get away with this poodoo." Carth said.

"Statement: I refuse to disarm as well. Alternative suggestion-use adolescent tail-head meatbag as bait." HK said trying to be helpful.

"Not a bad idea." Canderous nodded

"Oh nonononon. NO" Carth shook his head frantically.

"Why not she's the perfect bait." Argued Canderous.

"Maybe that last battle you got hit on your head. You forget maybe who the Kid's self-appointed foster-mother is? If anything happens to her Skye will eat us alive. She might be all Jedi but she's not all bright and shiny. She's more on the gray side of things. Maybe it's because she's new at this stuff, maybe it's because she still thinks like a scout but I know if something happens to Mission on our watch, we're dead. You know it too."

"Gotta point." Ordo conceded.

"Don't I get a say in this?" Mission asked indignantly.

"No." Both men chorused.

"Look, I wasn't gonna volunteer like I did with Fido. I was thinking maybe we track 'em though their radios and stealth belts. They're linked somehow right, so they don't shoot each other. Comm-frequencies are easy—just find which channel they're on. But the stealth frequencies are a little different. Tricky. Not impossible. Figure they're tied together on a closed-circuit network. Just a matter of syncing our stealth belt frequencies to theirs."

"Good idea. Get to work." Ordo said. "I can even give a head start. I used the linked stealth belts back on a few drops back in the day. I can give you the frequencies to look for. The pattern, you're going to want to start here." Ordo showed the girl the frequencies she might need to tag the signatures they might be using. "I think you're smart enough to extrapolate from there."

"Okay… got it." Mission said typing the frequencies Canderous gave her. "And someone outta tell Skye about this."

"Already on it." Carth said and held up his wrist-comm to prove he was on the radio to the Jedi.

The companions moved silently though the jungle, sweeping the undergrowth for tracking signals coming from the Mandalorians stealth units. Seven blips blinked like the pulse under the skin on their HUD three clicks ahead of them.

Mission felt a familiar feeling in the pit of her stomach. She looked over her shoulder to the two warriors from opposites of the war and wondered if they felt the same thing going into battle as she did: fear. She doubted either of them would admit to it. Fear… fear of failure, fear of dying, fear of watching their friends die, fear of being wounded and living out of the rest of their days crippled or maimed. Fear was always there. You didn't live in Taris's Lower City streets without feeling it. Down there it could devour you if you let it. Residents and gang-bangers didn't last long when they let the fear take hold.

Being with the Beks, Mission knew how to turn her fear to her own advantage. Gadon taught her how to take what made her weak and turn it into something that made her strong. Skye did the same.

Fear is the enemy of will. Will is what lets you take action. Fear is what stops you, and makes you weak. Makes your powers feeble. Just ignore your fear. If you fear, you can't act. If you can't act you can't defend. If you cannot defend- you die. Do not let fear consume you, do not reek of it, take hold of it and use it to your own advantage. Use it as leverage against those you face. Their fear is your weapon. Never allow it to be a weapon against you.

Mission always managed to slip out of troubles when in Taris, normally because of Big Z was always there or because she was known to hang out with the Hidden Beks. But neither was present. But there was Carth, the homicidal droid and Grandpa Candy; wouldn't dare let anything to happen to her. Well Carth wouldn't anyway.

The blips intensified becoming brighter, the more brilliant the red dots became the harder and louder Mission's heart pounded. Her knuckles were white from gripping her weapon too tightly in fear and anticipation. Mission had seen only minor combat before; she swallowed down her fear until she felt she was almost walking it.

Adrenaline began to pump through Mission's veins as she redirected the fear to give her strength, power and courage. The blips were sun-bright. Mission whipped her blaster around in desperation looking for the targets. She didn't see them, of course she didn't they were all cloaked, but the modified HUD gave up their locations. Mission knew she and her team only had a few seconds before the Mandies were on to them and opened fire.

She couldn't see them but she squeezed the trigger on the blaster resisting the urge to fire widely and moved the scope in a tight circle, looking in vain for a clean shot. Targeted the red dot on the HUD hoped she'd actually hit something.

Almost instantly the undergrowth erupted. One, then two… four then five bodies shimmered out of the jungle. They charged headlong into the companions confident their skills were superior.

Damn, these guys are quick, Mission thought, her eyes barely able to follow the blur of blue-clad figures wielding their vibroswords like the sails of a windmill. The men were ready for the assault. Ordo and Carth knew the vulnerable spots on the Neo-Crusader armour from the wars and wearing it. HK programming allowed the droid to pinpoint critical areas, the armour couldn't be pierced… not by normal blades. Only a lightsaber had ever cut through them. The Companions had already taken that into account, and their blaster bolts found access through their eye slits of the Mandalorian helmets.

Mission knew a head shot was the best shot in any case…

It all happened so very quickly—the Mandies were rushing—then all the training she had been putting in with Grandpa Candy and Skye kicked in- the sounds of blaster fire rang hot like molten lead in her ears, ringing sharp and hard. Then they were dead.

Two of the kills astoundingly belonged to her. Mission couldn't believe she outdrew the veterans of the Mandalorian wars and an assassin droid. But it was true. The scoring of her blaster was much different than those left by the rifles of Canderous and HK and more distinct then the shots made by Carth. Her shots had ripped a nice hole in one of the Neo-Crusader's faceplates, melting metal to flesh.

Her blaster ironically belonged to one of the more infamous Mandies on Taris. None other than Bendak Starkiller. Skye had given the weapon to Mission back on Taris after she killed the then reigning champion in the arena in a gruelling death match.

It was one of the most unique and heavily modified weapons Mission, or hell, even any of the Companions had ever seen. It had a scope and a hair trigger as well as improved energy cell adding to its already deadly capabilities. It tore through armour as if were tissue paper. And Skye had just given it away to Mission without a second's hesitation: saying it was 'better used in a hand then sitting pretty and unused in a holster at the scout's hip. Mission had gotten real good using it as a sniper's weapons and was hell of a lot better with rapid shooting. It quickly become the weapon of choice for the young Twi'lek.

The unique weapon combined with her combat sensor visor and infiltrator gloves, Mission felt ready for anything, even hunting down sleemo cowards in the deep dark Shadowlands.

The companions searched the bodies of their kills, securing more weapons, credits and whatever manner of booty they could harvest. More importantly, they found the frequencies to the main camp of the Mandies on the group's swoopbikes.

Grrrwahrr said there were three groups out here in the wilds, while vanquishing the other two would have worked, it was more proactive to simply go to the main encampment and set a trap and then issue the recall for all the troopers to return.

Granted if each group of Mandies contained five Neo-Crusaders, the companions would be greatly outnumbered. Still, if they could fell a krayt dragon, they could fell a patrol of renegades. It was all in the planning. Even if it was his own people Canderous seemed thrilled at the prospect of facing so many with so few. Scratch that- HK-47 was equally excited if a droid could become excited at executing so many meatbags.

Trekking to the camp took little time at all. The next few moments would take far more time and consideration. Their HUDs showed as of yet no signs of the cowards- of course the Companions were well armed and thus were not the preferred targets. Canderous ordered a combination of frag and incendiary mines to be laid out in a spiral pattern, starting under the troopers' swoops. And not a few tucked inside the engine manifold. All set on a hair-trigger timed release set go off by command by anyone one of the companions.

Once the mines were set up the companions took to the trees, or rather the roots using climbing spurs on their boots and hand held spikes to dig into the thick bark of the roots. In essence they created a high-hide then turned it into a sniper's nest.

While the men and the droid set up the mines it was up to Mission to repair the signalling device to recall the Mandies. Of course, that meant rewiring the workings of the radios as they were missing singling devices. But Mission could work around that, her mind and tech skills combined with Canderous's knowledge recalling the mercs was child's play.

The slight hiccup came on when to signal it remotely. The timing had to be just right or the trap would be an exercise in futility. As soon as everyone was in place both Carth and Canderous activated the recall switches. In no time at all, the encampment shimmered with shapes that those with eyes expert enough to notice stealth belts could see for they gave no sound to their movements, indicating their belts also had noise dampeners. It was of no use to be invisible if someone heard you coming.

The renegade Mandies blinked into appearance. They looked around, confusion obvious in their bodies as their faces were masked by their helmets. It did not seem to perturb the Lieutenant over much.

"You have interrupted our hunt interloper. The inhabitants of this world can do little against us. But you appear to be a threat. Our training here will continue without your interference," a man wearing a commander's red armour spoke out in a declarative tone.

"Is that right?!" Canderous snarled back, not in basic but in Mandalorian. "They can do little against you, you say? Well of course not, you thin-blooded boys choose only to 'hunt' the unarmed. This is not a true test of skill for a true Mandalorian. Any who follow you on this 'training' exercise stain the honour of wearing the armour of a Neo-Crusader! Your blood and seed must be purged as not to spread your cowardliness. You are not of Mandalor! You are not fit to scrape the shit off a Rug's ass-fur. I will make a point of wiping your filth off the face the galaxy! DIE!"

All hell broke loose. At once the mines were set off; the explosions were ear ringing nearly bringing blood to the eardrums. It was magnificent! Plumes of smoke and fire mushroomed in the murk of the Shadowlands. And for a moment it was as if the sun itself flared brightly in the dark. It was blinding and the roar was deafening. A flash-burn swept across the ground like quicksilver. With no fodder to catch, the fire burned in the contained remnants of fuel and did not spread. Though it licked at the heels of the Companies Companions perched like birds in their trees, making them scramble to even higher purchase.

What wasn't spectacular was the fallout that came next. Unlike the krayt dragon- the red misted rain followed by chunks of hot metal from the chassis of swoop bikes was not something easily ducked. Mission pressed her body close and tight against the tree roots, trying to make herself as small as possible. She was hit with a deluge of pink rain as were the others. The warriors shrugged it off as aspects of war; the droid however almost seemed to smile again- however impossible that continued to be.

Moments later the Companions crawled down from their trees. Canderous smirked and walked over to the body of the Lieutenant of the renegades. His armour was as red as the pool of blood his corpse now rested in. A chuckle boiled deep in his gullet as the old man bent down and plucked the helmet off the dead man. Such was the way to claim the honour of a Mandalorian.

Revan had done so on numerous occasions. The most prominent occasions were when she claimed the helmets of the one she would wear everyone as the Revanchist and the other she took from Mandalor and hid so that the leader may not rise again. Indeed, the Mandalorians were now not but raiders, rouges and renegades. Thugs for hire and nothing more. Gone was the glory of the once mighty Mandalorian.

If anything was proven of that it was what was happening now in the Shadowlands. Training… against unarmed advisories bah! Incensed by such mediocrity Canderous moved from mincemeat body to mincemeat body and made a clear point to shoot the cocks of each of the Mandies. He ripped the helmets off each of the remaining bodies, not to commit what was left of their faces but to take from them the honour that never should have been theirs-the honour of wearing the armour of a Neo-Crusader.

It was Carth that led the band back to Grrrwahrr but it was Mission that related the news for she was the only one save for HK that understood Shyriiwook.

"You have returned… I heard the blast! You killed them."

"Yeah we got them all!" Mission said.

"Good. They were animals in armour, with no honour amongst them."

As before, HK simultaneously translated so that the men could follow the conversation.

Canderous held up the red helmet of the lieutenant. "Here's your proof, Rug. We left their meat for the vermin of this place."

Instead of being challenged or insulted by the slight, 'Rug', the old injured Wookiee barked out a laugh that he regretted soon after for the pain in his side. "Their bodies will not last long in the Shadowlands. The taint of their cowardice… the forest will consume all. I hope this will give my hunting brethren peace."

"They were avenged." Carth said using his training as an officer to sound diplomatic than his Mandi counterpart. He knew it was a far cry from anything these poor slobs had heard in a very long time.

Grrrwahrr nodded. "And I must acknowledge that, even though you are all outsiders and not to be truly trusted. You acted as a fellow Wookiee would have. Here take this. It is a symbol of my hunting clan. You have saved them, you deserve it. When you three look at it, remember that we reward respect, even from outsiders."

"Just see to it you remember it when a call goes out, when we need arms. We did more than made honourable way for your dead, Rug, something your old bones couldn't do, we got rid of some pestilence. Something big is on the way- just make sure when you hobble your way back to your village you let the other Rugs know they better support our Commander, the Jedi General Ravensong." Canderous commanded. "Don't mistake me; I never do anything from the kindness out of my heart. I don't have one and I never do anything out of kindness.

"I do what I do for gain: territory, power, weapons, the means to an end. If you want the slavers off this tree infested planet, the means to that end lies in a knife-ear lightsaber welding whelp, but one with vast power. You needed us to free the souls of your dead; you'll need her to free your people. Now you can be the feeble grey fur you are now, or raise your fellow Rugs to take up arms and do what you should have been doing all along and fight."

Canderous felt his back teeth for having to speak so well. Only diplomats spoke and took no action. He didn't do kindness, and he didn't speak eloquent words. Damn the Whelp to the Black, she was rubbing off on him. This whole thing with Malak had to end soon lest Ordo start thinking like a bloody Jedi; he was already talking like one of them. Damn that knife-eared Jedi, she was an infection.