Starfighters screamed overhead, lancing the ground with blaster bolts. Heavy artillery boomed in the distance. The ground shook with detonations. Trees toppled and ferns went flying through the air as exploding shells uprooted them. Panicked animals fled the treeline and burst onto the open battlefield. A row of trenches were dug in at the far end of a jungle clearing, the center of which was a no-man's land dotted with shell holes and mines. Armored vehicles stood amongst the trees, just out of sight of the enemy's tanks and howitzers. Republic soldiers down in the trenches and up in the vehicles readied their weapons, anxiously awaiting the call to advance. Down in the forward trench, Mat loaded his blaster rifle with a fresh power pack and checked the thermal detonators at his belt. Looking past the slick mud that spattered his red and yellow armor, Mat counted that all of his explosives were accounted for. Looking left and right, Mat took a head count of his squad members. Yatze, Dirk, Mekil, Fromaz... good. All were present. Even better, all were still alive. He sincerely hoped they would remain that way.

"Lieutenant!" Private Yatze bellowed over the cannon fire. The gray-skinned Rattataki man had a look of panic on his youthful face. "It's a mess out here, sir! What are we going to do? Just sit here and wait for death?"

"I'll tell you what's going to happen," Mat growled back, jabbing a finger at the frightened soldier. "We are going to stay here, and wait for the Jedi to arrive. Is that understood?" Yatze closed his mouth and nodded, still worried.

"Sir, we have incoming!" Corporarl Fromaz called, his voice full of alarm.

Mat peaked over the edge of the trench, taking care to keep his eyes low to the ground. Fromaz was right. Storming across the no-man's land was a squadron of eight Basilisk war droids. The piloted droids, with their powerful claws and muzzles that bristled with blaster barrels, the Basilisks resembled armored beasts from ancient warfare. Their pilots, seated in open cockpits atop the droids, brandished weapons and jeered with battle joy as their mounts charged across the open ground. A nearby blaster turret opened fire on the droids, only to end up being dispatched by a rocket launched from the lead droid. The lead Basilisk's pilot, a sniper rifle raised to his shoulder, fired a shot in Mat's direction. Mat ducked down and heard the bolt whistle overhead before burying itself into the dirt.

"Now we're in for it!" Yatze cried. He dropped his blaster rifle and began to whimper.

Mat crawled over to the frightened soldier, taking the young man's face in his hands. "Look at me, boy." He did. "You are a soldier of the Republic. Around us are men depending on each other to stay alive. Every one of us who quits the fight is leaving good people to die at our enemy's hands. Are you going to leave us behind?" Yatze shook his head. "Good man." Mat released Yatze and handed the Private his rifle, which he hefted with renewed purpose.

The whir of an engine sounded overhead. Mat looked up at the clear sky, half-expecting to see a squadron of bombers making an attack run. All he saw was a lone transport shuttle. Mat groaned in frustration. What good was a lousy transport against war droids? Predictably, the Basilisks started firing on the shuttle, but surprisingly, none of the shots struck home. Every bolt or rocket fired at the shuttle was deflected, as though by a shield made of air. Elation surged into Mat as he realized what the shuttle was carrying: Jedi.

The shuttle touched down no more than ten feet behind the trench. Downdraft from the shuttle's engines forced Mat to raise a hand to shelter his eyes. The shuttle's loading ramp dropped, and two dozen Jedi Knights emerged from it, igniting their lightsabers as they touched the ground. At their fore was a Jedi Knight clad in black robes and carrying two lightsabers - one blade colored blue, the other violet. A durasteel mask obscured his face, but not his identity. Every being in the Republic military knew this Jedi's name. It was a name that all respected and aspired to.

Revan.

"Stand with us, brothers and sisters," Revan called to the Republic forces. "It is time to face the Mandalorians." The masked Jedi then casually knocked aside a rocket with his left lightsaber.

For a fleeting moment, Revan locked eyes with Mat, and gave a nod. Mat turned back to his squad. "Our reinforcements are here!" he shouted with enthusiasm. "Revan is with them! Now let's go kill some Mandos. With me, boys!"

The Jedi Knights spread out and charged across the no man's land, with Revan leading the way. All along the Republic lines soldiers climbed out of the trenches and surged across the open ground. Republic vehicles emerged from the treeline and joined in the assault, firing projectiles over the heads of the charging infantry. Mat kept his squad close behind Revan, matching the renowned Jedi's pace. The lead Basilisk war droid fired a burst of blaster bolts in Revan's direction. The Jedi commander, still moving at a run, deflected the bolts with one lightsaber, and threw the other at the advancing droid's legs. The lightsaber severed the droid's left legs with ease, causing the machine to topple over and spill its pilot. Mat killed the pilot with a burst of shots from his own blaster, letting the fury of battle surge into him.

At last they reached the Mandalorian lines. A string of reinforced concrete walls, pillboxes, and weapon emplacements stood ahead of the Republic forces. Revan and three other Jedi joined their strength and unleashed a powerful Force wave, blasting a hole in the nearest defense wall. Bits of concrete rained down on Republic and Mandalorian forces alike. As the Jedi stormed through the breach, Mat followed with his own squad, leading them into the nearest pillbox. Four Mandalorian fighters awaited them inside. Their leader, a human male in red armor, raised a blaster pistol and fired. Mat rolled to the left and got down on one knee and returned fire, striking the Mandalorian in the chest. He fell to the ground heavily. Mat's squad joined in behind him, shooting at the Mandalorians. Mat saw Fromaz go down, but all the Mandalorians hit the pillbox's floor as well, all of them dead. "Good work, squad," he said approvingly, still down on one knee.

"For Clan Vizla!" someone roared. Mat felt a knife slip between the plates of his armor. Struggling, he turned to face his attacker. His eyes met those of a red-haired, hazel-eyed human female no older than Nynaeve. A look of triumph adorned the young woman's face. She withdrew her blade and moved to stab again. A blaster fired. Mat jolted awake.


Blood and bloody ashes! Mat thought as he sat up in the captain's bed aboard the commandeered interceptor - the Gambler's Folly, Mat had renamed it. What was that? Thanks to the Finn, Mat had inherited a great number of memories from the Mandalorian Wars, but this was the first time that he had ever dreamed about them. Inside, Mat knew that the dream (probably) was not real, only this one had been... different. More vivid. The emotion that he'd experienced at Revan's arrival and at joining the battle had all felt so pure, so believable. It took effort to remind himself that it was all ancient history. What stuck with him most was the face of the Mandalorian woman who had stabbed him. Or rather, who had stabbed the man who, at some point in his life, made the mistake of contacting the Finn. Never had his dreams been so serious - or, for that matter, painful - since Bala'zamon had invaded them after he'd left Emond's Field with Rand, Perrin, Egwene, Lan and Moiraine. Where was Lan, anyway? It was his turn to stand watch in the control room.

Still groggy from sleep, Mat swung his legs over the side of the bed and slid on his breeches. His white shirt and green jacket followed. As Mat was pulling on his boots, the intercom sounded overhead.

"Mat," said the Warder's voice. "I need you here in the control room. This 'droid' contraption is making an awful lot of noise. I don't understand any of it."

Mat shook his head. Of course Lan wouldn't understand a droid's speech. At times that man could make a nerf herder seem educated. But Mat could hardly blame him. Without his borrowed memories, Mat would be just as mystified as Lan was now. "I'll be right over," he said, then stood up, donned his wide-brimmed hat, and strolled out of the cabin.

He found Lan in the control room, seated in the captain's chair, just aft of the galaxy map console. G5-K3 was beside the Warder, beeping and twittering and rocking his chassis like a dog anticipating food. Lan, clearly annoyed by the machine, was looking straight ahead at the galaxy map, trying to ignore G5's racket. Lan looked over his right shoulder at Mat as the gambler entered. "Thank you for coming," Lan said plainly. "This machine won't keep quiet." There was a subtle hint of agitation in the Warder's tone. "Do you have any idea what he's trying to say?"

The droid rolled itself up to Mat, still beeping and twittering away. "Fuel level = low. Coruscant = out of reach. Destination = change!"

"That sounds like an easy problem to fix," Mat reassured the droid. G5 stopped twittering and let out an electronic sigh of relief. "Now, where else can we go?" Mat asked, partly to himself.

The ship suddenly dropped out of hyperspace. Mat was nearly thrown from his feet by the sudden stop. "What the..." he wondered aloud. Regaining his balance, Mat looked down at Lan. "Did you do that?"

Lan shook his head. "I didn't touch the controls."

"Drop from hyperspace = not G5's fault," the droid beeped.

Bewildered, Mat look out the control room window. The ship had come to a stop inside of an asteroid field. Fortunately the floating space rocks - some the size of a city - were relatively far apart. Only a large ship would experience any degree of trouble navigating around them. The field itself appeared empty of any life forms... until Mat noticed something odd about one of the asteroids on the Gambler's port bow. The asteroid, big as the Palace of Camelyn, had an unusually shaped tip that resembled the head of a woodcutter's axe. As his own ship drew closer, Mat realized that the axe head-shaped tip was in fact not part of the asteroid but was the bow of another ship. Her hull was painted a drab gray, marking it as a small warship, possibly a corvette. What are they doing out here? Mat wondered. For that matter, who under the Light are they?

A ringing noise sounded on the control panel in front of Lan. "What's that?" the Warder asked.

Mat strode over to the galaxy map. "Someone's trying to contact us," he said, and pushed a red button on the panel. The map blinked and vanished, and the holoimage of a Twil'ek male appeared in its place. The Twil'ek, a wicked scar slashing across his face, wore rudimentary combat armor and had a heavy blaster pistol holstered at his side. A badge displaying a sword crossed with a blaster rifle was clearly visible on his chest. Was that a mark of authority? If so, then this mysterious vessel was potentially part of a navy.

"Gambler's Folly, this is the captain of the Rylothi Pride," said the Twil'ek in a matter-of-fact tone. "Gambler's Folly, do you read?" Mat then remembered that he had modified the ship's identify friend-foe system to broadcast the interceptor's new name, rather than its old Imperial designation. Why didn't I think to change that later rather than sooner? Light! Not pleased with himself, Mat responded to the incoming call.

"Rylothi Pride, this is Gambler's Folly," said Mat to the strange captain. Lan, still seated in the captain's chair, remained silent, as did G5. "What is it that you need?"

"We are having trouble with our hyperdrive. Do you happen to have an astromech droid aboard your vessel? Or perhaps a skilled engineer?"

Mat, feeling skepticism seep into his mind, remained silent. The ruby-hilted dagger from Shadar Logoth had left behind some lingering effects, not the least of which was wariness of strangers. The Rylothi Pride's call for assistance sounded genuine enough, but something about it wasn't quite right... "Why didn't you send your message on a distress frequency? A situation like yours warrants an emergency broadcast. And shouldn't a bloody warship like yours have mechanics of its own? If not, then your flaming navy needs to re-evaluate its entire fleet. Blood and ashes, take care of your ships, man!" Mat then started to ponder who else might operate armed vessels other than a navy. Merchants were a possibility, albeit a slim one. Rylothi Pride could be owned by the Hutt Cartel, but Mat promptly dismissed that theory. He thought it unlikely that the Cartel would name a ship after the homeworld of a species they frequently enslaved. That left only smugglers - unlikely, given the ship's size - or worst of all...

Mat cut off the transmission, causing the Twil'ek officer's holoimage to vanish. "Lan, get ready for a fight." The Warder stood up and reached for his sword but Mat stopped him. "Not with that. This is going to be a skirmish between ships, not soldiers. Now get into the co-pilot's seat.

The Warder obeyed with a low growl. "Just what is the problem, farmer?" Lan asked forcefully while fastening his seat belt.

"Problem? Lan, that's a bloody pirate ship! This is a disaster."

"Is it possible we can escape instead of risking our lives needlessly?"

"Not a bad thought. G5, can you get us to lightspeed?"

"Hyperdrive = needs time to recharge," the droid whirred.

Light! "How long?" Mat demanded.

"Recharge time = three minutes."

Three minutes was closer to three years when in the heat of battle. Blood and ashes! "Get going on it!" Mat barked. "But first, power up the ship's weapons."

G5 connected himself to a panel on the aft bulkhead. "Blasters + missles = Online!" he twittered a second later.

"Good work, G5. It's time to toss the dice!"

The pirate corvette Rylothi Pride emerged from its hiding place behind the city-sized asteroid. Mat could clearly see the one hundred meter-long warship's starboard side, which did indeed resemble a woodcutter's axe, with its tall, vertical bow and elongated, narrow stern, which widened again further aft, where the engines sat. One dual-barreled blaster turret was visible on the ship's topside, two more on the verticals (one forward, one aft), and one turret on the underside. A pair of missile pods were mounted on the corvette's bow. Overall, the Rylothi Pride was more heavily armed than the Gambler's Folly, but Mat's interceptor had one key advantage: speed.

"Let's see what this lass can do," he said to no one, then pushed a hand on the accelerator. The Folly surged forward, spurned on by the power of her engines. Mat yelped with excitement, banking the ship to starboard and turning a half-circle around an asteroid. The pirate vessel opened fire as the interceptor gained speed. Red blaster bolts flashed by the hull, slamming into asteroids and missing the smaller ship entirely. One bolt struck home, causing the Folly's energy shield to flare up. Mat climbed his vessel high above the pirate ship, then circled around to her stern. Here goes nothing, he thought before commencing his first attack run. Mat opened fire with his ship's four blaster cannons while the enemy returned fire using their vessel's topside blaster turret. A blue, electronic field appeared as the interceptor's green blaster bolts struck the pirate ship's energy shield. Blast, thought Mat. This will take longer than it usually does.

He swung the Folly hard to port, enemy blaster bolts chasing the small ship as it maneuvered. Again Mat climbed the ship upwards, then made a sharp downwards turn to starboard... only to find himself bow-to-bow with the pirate ship. In a moment of panic, Mat launched a pair missiles at the corvette. The pirates, still blazing away with their blaster turrets, fired a missile of their own a second later. Mat put his ship into a dive, dodging the missile, which harmlessly struck an asteroid and exploded. The pirate ship turned to port, hoping to evade the incoming rockets... but to no avail. The first missile struck the corvette's bridge, causing no damage but straining the energy shield to its limit; the second slammed into the starboard side just aft of the control room, knocking the shield down completely.

"Enemy's shields = down!" G5 beeped excitedly.

"Outstanding!" Mat cheered. "We're almost out of this. Light, this is just like fighting the Republic Navy over Aries III." Wait... when was he at Aries III? Burn him, it was those dead men's memories again!

Mat leveled the ship out and sent her into a wide, arcing turn, circling around to the corvette's stern. Taking careful aim at the pirate ship's dual engines, Mat opened fire, sending a dozen green blaster bolts crashing into them. Flames flared up from the engines as the blaster bolts struck their target. A half-dozen escape pods began jettisoning from the corvette's hull as the fires spread throughout the doomed ship. Just before Mat turned his own craft away, the Rylothi Pride exploded in a spectacular display of orange flames and tumbling debris.

"Yes!" Mat exclaimed, raising a fist over his head.

"That was... interesting," Lan said in a much softer tone. "It appears that we are safe for the moment." An alarm started blaring in the control room. "Or perhaps not."

"Missile = incoming!" G5 whirred as he spun his disc-shaped head in panic.

Something powerful struck the interceptor's hull, causing the ship to shake violently, like dice about to get thrown. "Mother's milk in cup!" Mat swore out loud, then swerved the ship behind a large asteroid, using the rock's enormous bulk for cover. "Where did that come from?!"

"It must have been fired at the stern," Lan said, looking around at the space beyond, "else we would have spotted our assailants. Whoever they are."

"Must be another pirate ship." Mat and Lan sat in silence for several minutes, watching as another ship cruised into view. Like the destroyed Rylothi Pride, this vessel also sported a bow shaped like an axe head, but her hull was broad where the Pride's had been slim. She carried three blaster turrets on each side of her hull, along with an additional engine. A missile turret was visible on her topside. Her hull was painted the same drab gray that had adorned the pirate corvette. An insignia showing a sword crossed with a blaster rifle was painted boldly on her midship section. That insignia alone was all Mat needed to determine that she and her crew were foes. Just another crew of cutthroats. And he was about to wreck their day.

"Here we bloody go again," Mat muttered as he launched a salvo of three missiles at the pirate ship. All three rockets struck their target. Predictably, the pirate vessel's energy shield absorbed the impacts. Accelerating the ship forward again, Mat fired the Folly's blaster cannons, hitting the pirate craft amidships but failing to inflict any damage. The pirate ship's blaster turrets rotated, took aim, and returned fire as Mat sent his ship careening over the enemy's hull. Behind the interceptor, the pirate ship's missile turret launched two rockets that proceeded to chase the smaller vessel. One missile went wild and struck an asteroid, but the other slammed into the Folly's stern. The bow pitched forward with the impact.

"Shield = down!" G5 exclaimed with alarm.

Wonderful, thought Mat as he swung the ship around for another attack run. The gambler knew that without shields, they stood little chance against the larger ship. Even a small chance of success was enough for Matrim Cauthon, though. Did Lan need to know that they were about to plunge headlong into a suicidal charge? Did Amys? No, Mat decided. Lan had been preparing to enter a hopeless battle his entire life, and Amys would probably consider this to be an honorable death, knowing the Aiel. Although... what would Moiraine say if Mat got her Warder killed? What if he never found Rand or Aviendha? Stop! To Shayol Gul with Aes Sedai and their hidden schemes. Diving from above, Mat straightened out the ship's course and centered the sights on the pirate ship's bridge. Taking a deep breath, he opened fire with the blaster cannons. The pirates returned fire by launching three more missiles, which hurtled straight at the Gambler's Folly. Images of Mat's youth began to flash before him.

Then the dice began rolling in his head.

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, three altogether different missiles came into view and shot down those heading for the Gambler's Folly! Another ship - a pair of ships, rather - appeared to starboard. Both were small freighters of Corellian make, and both began strafing the pirate ship, firing on it with their top-mounted blaster turrets. Elated by the unexpected arrival of assistance, Mat gleefully joined in the assault, spraying the pirate ship's topside with blaster bolts and destroying the missile turret. The pirate vessel's energy shields finally quit, allowing the three smaller ships to cripple her. Mat lined up his vessel for a final attack run and fired a burst of blaster bolts at the pirate ship's bridge, smashing the windows and venting her command crew into space. With the bridge inaccessible, the pirates no longer had control over their ship. But that wasn't enough for the Corellian frieghters, who unloaded their blasters at the ship's engines, causing them to explode. The pirate ship died a death identical to that of the Rylothi Pride, only this time no escape pods burst from the hull. No survivors.

Mat brought his ship to a stop and exhaled deeply. He hadn't realized that he'd been holding a breath. "Whew, glad that's over," he said as the dice in his head rolled slower.

"Indeed," Lan muttered.

A familiar beeping noise sounded from the main cabin. G5 perked up. "Holocall = incoming. Location = main holoterminal."

Mat unfastened his seatbelt. "I wonder who it," he uttered while standing up. He then made his way into main cabin, with Lan and G5 in pursuit.

He entered the main cabin to find Amys already standing before the main holoterminal, which stood in the space's center. The Aiel Wise One appeared bedraggled despite being fully clothed in her brown dress. Where had she been during the entire battle? Mat thoguht it best not to ask, otherwise he might end up on the receiving end of the Wise One's sharp tongue. While his companions stood around the terminal, Mat walked up and pushed the red 'call' button.

Two life-sized holoimages appeared over the terminal. On the left was a bearded human male wearing a long coat and a wide-brimmed hat, and on the right stood a short-haired Mirialan female wearing a shirt, vest, pants, and boots. Both had blaster pistols holstered at their sides.

"Ah," said the man with slight nod, "so you're not Imperials after all. When we saw you engaging those Sunder Star pirates, we were inclined to think otherwise."

"Your IFF gave you away," the Mirialan added. "Smart call. The Gambler's Folly, is it? Your ship's got a cool name."

"Are we going to get introduced?" Mat asked. "I'm not ungrateful, but..."

"Right!" the Mirialan woman continued. "I'm Hylo Visz, captain of the Crimson Fleece."

"And my name's Nico Okarr." The human gave a mock salute. "I skipper the Redshifter."

"It's a pleasure to meet you both," Mat said cordially. "My name's Abel and these are my shipmates, Jain and Keri. We are spacers, like you."

"Are you smugglers?" Hlyo asked.

"As a matter of fact, we are," Mat said before either Lan or Amys could intervene. "We were making a run to Korriban when the Imps impounded our ship. We had to steal one of their own ships to escape."

"You stole a ship from the Empire?" Nico remarked. "That's quite impressive."

"It was terrifying as well." That much wasn't a lie. Facing down a Sith Lord could not be described differently.

Hylo Visz cracked a smile. "We could use a crew with your skill. Meet up with us on Nar Shaddaa the next time you're there. You have our holo frequencies. Contact us when you arrive."

"We shall," said Mat. "Thank you."

"Fly safe," Hylo said just before her holoimage disappeared. After bidding them good luck, Nico ended his transmission as well. The dice in Mat's head rolled to a stop.

Mat eyed Lan and Amys with a triumphant look. "Welcome aboard the Gambler's Folly," he said cheekily, "the galaxy's newest smuggling vessel."