Laniff jumped off his speeder bike almost before it halted, sprinting over to the ship he knew must be Coorta's. Not many other people were stupid enough to land on Dxun. It certainly wasn't a great vacation spot.
"What do I want to do today? Oh, I don't know, getting eaten sounds like fun," Laniff muttered, glancing backwards into the jungle. "Next time, I vote we land on a pretty planet. Somewhere without nasty animals that want Mando for lunch."
Slamming a slicer into the ship's outer controls, Laniff grinned as the ramp began to lower. It seemed Coorta didn't protect her ship nearly as well as she ought to.
He sprinted up the ramp, careful to clear the doorway for traps before rushing over to the piloting console. He'd hate to make it this far only to get himself blown up. Laniff settled into the pilot's seat, looking over the controls.
"What the…" he muttered, leaning backwards. All the commands were in Concordian, a dialect of Mando'a. He could read and understand it easily as the two languages were mutually intelligible, but why in the galaxy Coorta would have it as her ship's language was a mystery. Mandalorian would be one thing, unless… He stood up and stepped back, looking around at the multitude of tiny symbols etched into the control panel. Each was a stylized form of a shriek hawk in midflight, some painted a dark blue. "Oh shab. This is bad. This is very, very bad."
Activating his comm, Laniff began to punch in commands to the ship.
"Ran? Laniff here. Kadira's busy distracting Coorta, but we've got a plan. All you have to do is get to the Vanguard once you and Zul gather whatever he needs."
::Copy that. Glad to hear you two are still alive and kicking,:: Ran's voice came over the comm, sounding relieved.
"Hopefully it stays that way," Laniff replied grimly, glancing at the symbols on the control panel. "And Ran? Try not to get eaten on the way back, ok?"
Kadira fired, but Coorta had already lunged forward, using a move Kadira recognized too late to send the rifle skittering out of Kadira's hands and into the jungle's thick underbrush. Kadira turned her shoulder just in time to hear a vibroblade scrape across the beskar, leaving a scratch in the metal. She brought her fist up as Coorta spun past, sending the gold armored woman stumbling away with a well-placed blow.
As Coorta turned, Kadira caught sight of the insignia on the woman's shoulder. Kadira felt herself go cold as she recognized the shriek hawk symbol.
"Sithspit. You're Death Watch," she said venomously, drawing her vibrosword with one fluid movement. "I should have guessed. Blood thirsty, cowardly, obviously fluent in Mando'a," she said, tilting her head as she waited for Coorta to make a move. "You have no honor, no care for those who should be your vod. Now the pieces all fall into place."
Coorta laughed, wiping the small trickle of blood from her mouth with the back of her hand. "Death Watch are the true Mandalorians. You're all weak, following your precious Mand'alor Shysa while our civilization crumbles. Mandalorians were feared once, we were respected. We fought hard, back during the Mandalorian Wars. We ruled the galaxy with an iron fist, even the Jedi feared us. We had glory in battle. And now we're mere bounty hunters. Our vod are scattered across the galaxy, risking their lives for aruetii who are too cowardly to do their own dirty work. We should return to the old ways. No one could stand against us then."
"We had no honor," Kadira responded sharply, circling warily. "Those days are a blot on our history. We were little better than murdering pirates. We destroyed worlds that had no defenses, killed anyone we pleased. Is that the 'glory' Death Watch is dreaming of? You are not our vod. Death Watch is a radical splinter group. All you want is to return to the days where we lived off of destruction and death. You've killed the ones you now try to claim as brothers and sisters. Their blood is on the hands on Death Watch, and so you are dar'manda. You're not one of us, you're an enemy. More so than any aruetii."
Coorta's face twisted into an expression of mixed rage and disgust. "You are as blind as your Mand'alor, Kadira Sal," she sneered, placing her helmet back over her head and drawing her vibroblade. "Death Watch will rise, and we will destroy your kind and then return the Mandalorians to their place of honor in the galaxy."
"Not while any real Mando draws breath," Kadira retorted, shifting her grip on her vibrosword and shutting off her vocoder with a voice command. She had a feeling the time for talking was over.
Kadira saw Coorta's slight movement, no more than a tensing of the woman's muscles before the gold armored woman rushed forward with her blade swinging. Kadira spun to the side, catching the blade on her own and deflecting it off to the side before the two began exchanging frenzied blows.
Kadira just managed to dodge a blow to her unprotected neck, swinging her blade in a quick counter attack that forced Coorta to stumble backwards or risk dismemberment.
"C'mon Laniff, where are you?" Kadira murmured softly, bringing her blade up into a ready position. She could already feel the muscles in her wounded arm throbbing in rhythm with her heartbeat. Bacta could only do so much in such a short period of time, leaving Kadira doubtful as to how long she could continue this game of cat-and-mouse with Coorta.
Ran let out a low whistle as Zul led him into a small underground room of the base the two had managed to slice into. It was filled with equipment, some old and some new, all of it looking highly advanced.
"Please tell me we don't need to haul all of this back to the Vanguard?" Ran asked, running one hand over what looked to be a holo-projector.
Zul chuckled, kneeling down beside one of the machines and withdrawing a small datachip.
"No, all we need is this," he said, sliding it into the pouch on his belt. "It's-"
"It's best if I don't know what's on there," Ran interrupted, holding up one hand. "Just like it's best if I don't know why we're flying you to Dantooine. That way, when my pilot asks, I can honestly say I don't know."
"But you've guessed," Zul said grimly, earning a slight smile from Ran.
"I have. I've heard the rumors of a Rebel base on Dantooine. I also have sources who swear Onderon will be a message to the Empire," Ran said, noting Zul's surprise and holding up a hand. "But it's better if I've only heard those things, not had them confirmed or denied."
Zul studied Ran for a moment before nodding once. "Shall we go see what mischief your friends have cooked up?"
"Any karking day now, Laniff," Kadira growled, dancing backwards out of Coorta's reach. Her battered body was beginning to protest the sharp movements Kadira was forced to put it through in order to avoid Coorta's skilled attacks. She could feel herself slowing, the multitude of small scrapes on her armor evidence of the number of blows Coorta had managed to land.
When her audio amplifiers picked up the sound of a ship coming closer, Kadira grinned. Coorta hesitated, distracted by the sound, allowing Kadira the chance to dive into the underbrush after her discarded rifle. She rolled to her feet with it in hand just in time to see Coorta's ship fly overhead with the ramp lowered.
Snapping the anti-armor attachment into place once more Kadira fired off a quick shot, focused more on startling Coorta than taking the time to aim. The woman reeled backwards, stumbling to her knees and cursing as realization suddenly dawned. All this had been a distraction for Laniff to steal Coorta's ship in order to rescue Kadira and keep Coorta from following them.
Coorta stumbled to her feet and rushed Kadira once more, knowing the rifle wouldn't allow Kadira to fight in close quarters with any ease. Kadira swung the butt of her rifle forward instinctively, catching Coorta squarely across the faceplate and sending the woman sprawling. Kadira kicked Coorta's vibroblade out of reach, kneeling down and slamming her helmeted head into Coorta's.
"You lose, di'kuut," Kadira growled before backing away from Coorta's unconscious form in disgust. If she couldn't still hear the sounds of animals crashing through the underbrush in the distance Kadira might have stayed, might have finished it there. As it was, time was running out, and Kadira didn't relish the thought of facing any more of Dxun's local wildlife. She slammed her hand onto her left gauntlet, activating her jetpack. The flame caught after a second of hesitation, sending Kadira shooting upwards towards the ship Laniff had commandeered.
Kadira's feet met the metal of the ramp, causing her to give a sigh of relief as she rolled inside and landed in a heap as the ramp slid shut behind her. With a groan, she removed the jetpack and stumbled to her feet, looking up to find Laniff ducking out of the cockpit.
"One Death Watch ship, successfully confiscated," he said proudly, giving Kadira an exaggerated bow. "I contacted Ran and Zul, they're asking us for cover as they make it back to the Vanguard. Apparently the local wildlife are still pretty stirred up by Coorta's explosion… Do you mind my asking why you left Coorta alive down there?" he added, glancing out of the tiny viewport.
"Because I'm not her," Kadira responded, removing her helmet with a sigh. "She's stranded here without a ship. But I wasn't going to shoot her while she was unconscious, Death Watch or no. I like to think I'm at least a little better than that. We'll worry about Coorta some other time."
A/N: Reviews, please? They totally make my day, even if there's constructive criticism. It lets me know people are reading, and what I can change/do in the future to make the story more interesting :)
Hopefully I explained Death Watch fairly well... If not, they're a splinter group of Mandalorians. Pretty radical, not very nice to say the least. They've been around for a while, though sometimes they disappear long enough for people to think they've been wiped out. Most Mandalorians are faaar from fond of them.
There's quite a few resources if you'd like to know more about Death Watch, all it takes is a Google search :)