Fifty
The Claxis Dock Master jostled the red gems in his hand as he walked back to his make shift office. The walls were covered in Wanted posters and a calendar that had a Twi'lek woman in all her natural glory. He liked the fourth month picture, keeping it there even though it was six standard months ago. He sat heavily in his chair, rolling his cigar in his mouth before he saw the humanoid being directed towards him.
'Bounty Hunter,' he thought, 'you can spot one a mile away,' he mumbled to himself, placing his precious, earlier payment in the top left hand drawer of his desk. The air in his office, although profuse with the odour from his cigar suddenly became thick with tension.
"You the Dock Master?" he asked sternly, instantly instigating authority.
The Dock Master laughed loudly, as he pushed the chair back. "Who wants to know?" It was a good line, and one he routinely started conversations with.
"No one important. I'm just after some information. I payed a lot to get to you, I hope it was money well spent?"
"I guess that depends on how much you have left?" It was a standoff between the two, one wanting information, the other in possession of it.
"Just a couple of questions, I'll make it worth your while."
The Master leaned back in his chair and placed his hand in the area where his trusty laser was strapped under the desk. "Paid a lot to see me, your pockets must still be heavy?"
A smile crossed the Hunters mouth as he raised his hands revealing nothing before moving his jacket aside and tossing a black pouch across the table.
"Well, today is turning out to be my lucky day. Sit. How may I help?"
"Any strangers been through here looking for a ride off this rock?"
The Dock Master settled back again and revealed his toothless grin, and listened to what the man had to say.
#
The Bounty Hunter walked with purpose from the small office, satisfied with the outcome of his 'meeting' with the Dock Master. He hurried back to his own vessel eager to report back his new information.
The Dock Master watched him leave and smiled. 'Where ever you are Laddie, may the stars be forever in your favour.'
#
"Grand Master Yoda this is Gharib Farhat. I have the location of the person you are looking for. I will radio in once I have arrived on Dantooine."
A small green figure appeared in the hologramme. "Good news this is. Careful, you must be."
'Hmmm,' the Jedi mumbled as he closed down the communiqué and went back into quiet contemplation. Finding this Mandalorian had been more troublesome than he anticipated. He personally had been looking for years. Stoyan had disappeared from the Jedi Order long before he physically departed it. Yoda had tried hard to keep him focused, keep him believing, but nothing seemed to work. His displacement from his home world the problem. His Mandalorian blood stronger than his Faith. Now, things were different. The disturbance Yoda could feel was his responsibility, his burden to bear. This was the second Knight of the Order he had failed, the first being a young woman, some twenty years earlier. The Republic needed him for a very specific reason, and only this ghost of a Jedi could help.
#
The stranger sat back in the safe hold of The Bounty and settled himself for the long ride to Sondor. There he would start again. Finding another ship to continue him onward. He was used to being alone. He had spent most of his life in solitary confinement of his own volition. Never making friends or seeking out family. They were luxuries that could see him dead or imprisoned. No, it was just him and the 'friend' that had hung at his belt for the past forty nine years. And, he liked it that way.
"You want something to eat," the gravelly voice of the Captain made him open an eye, but he wasn't surprised, he had sensed that he had entered.
"No thank you Captain," he replied as he pulled his hat over his eyes. He would sleep no more than an hour, after that the dreams haunted him and memories he had spent the last decade avoiding would dog his brain until it ached. Recently, he could feel the pain coming stronger, as if a thousand fold voices were always calling out to him, always in agony until each would peter out and become silent, only to be replaced by another.
They were so familiar, but he swore that he had never met a single one. Confusion would always follow until the simple act of staying alive and not being found would take precedence and he would continue on his daily ritual of disappearing amongst the Universe. Always moving, never staying in one spot long enough to be found.
He could always tell when one was close, but these days it seemed less were after him. They all were deployed to The Clone Wars, on Coruscant he had read, never taking the time to find out more. 'Typical,' he had mused, 'sanctimonious Jedi Knights.' One in particular he had no wish to see again, always pushing him, making him become something he wasn't, taking him from his heritage, his home, his family. 'No,' he shook the thoughts back to a place where they belonged and pulled himself up. He walked into the ships small but perfunctory mess, "on seconds thoughts," he said slowly, "I might join you." The Captain nodded and moved a chair aside and invited him to sit.
#
They marched double time through the under growth, the enormous wroshyr trees of Kashyyyk helping blanket their escape. Carrying as much as physically possible from the crashed larty the remaining 501st together with their Commander and the four commando's made a formidable group.
Niner lead them to their 'lair' which was a small opening in a group of rocks approximately twelve klicks from the crash site. Rex was impressed with their extensive set up. Computers and a radio network ready to intercept any transmissions from the Wookiee spy to the Separatists.
Ahsoka was grateful for the day to end, her head thumping from the crash and her mind spinning from the news that they were now dealing with a rogue Wookiee. Again, she thought, another mission gone horribly wrong, this time costing three soldiers their lives.
She crouched down on her haunches and began to eat a ration bar Rex had handed to her. Darman hadn't said a word since meeting the group, and the Captain had respected that. Rex knew the upbringing of the Commando's was tougher than the regular troopers. He also knew that they had landed slap bang in the middle of Omega's mission, compromising their objective. The Commando's didn't have to save their sorry shebs, the Captain however grateful for their assistance at getting them out of the situation they had crashed into. Even though they were brothers, the Commando's fought this war on their own terms.
Darman continued to look at the Captain interacting with the Togrutan Jedi. He was mesmerised by the two of them, and silently envied the familiarity he shared with the Commander. Niner knew all too well why his soldier was watching the two in the corner sharing their food. The relationship Darman had with a Jedi General was no secret amongst the tightly knit group. Even Atin was enjoying the benefits of a beautiful Twi'lek when back on Triple Zero. It was something Kal hadn't factored into his contingency to get his boys off Coruscant and out of the army – woman. Niner smiled knowingly to himself at the conversation he had with their old drill Sergeant. "Hormones," Kal had lamented, "I forgot about the hormones."
It was awkward, the two groups split down the centre of the cave.
"Dar, over here," Niner said sitting next to the equipment and removing his gauntlets. Popping a cube into his mouth he began pressing a few buttons.
"Anything?"
"Nope, nothing. Yet."
"What the Fek are we going to do with them?" Darman dropped the tone of his voice.
Niner blew out a breath and continued tapping away at the keyboard.
"We can't get a message out, it will give our location away to the entire Universe. Sarge? Sarge!"
"I know Dar, I know," he replied, his ire raising. "She's a Jedi Commander, she can take over the mission is she wants. She - "
"Only if you let her!" Darman hissed, "then we've been stuck here for a month for nothing!"
Everyone stopped and looked over at the two by the computer panels. It was up to Niner as the Omega squad leader to decide whether the Commander took over and they aborted their own mission. It was up to him, and after finishing his report his finger hovered over the button flashing red and looked up at his friend and hit send. His decision made.
"Oh great," Darman yelled, 'that's just great."
"At ease soldier," Niner was having problems with Darman these days, he was sure that it had something to do with him not seeing Etain for the past three months.
Niner lifted himself up and walked over to where the Captain and Commander sat.
"Commander, Captain. Omega are at your disposal."
"Thank you Sergeant," Ahsoka stepped forward and up to the leadership of the group. "The Captain and I have been discussing our options."
"Ma'am," he said and together the three began planning the next course of action.
#
A/N: Peter - ner vod, your stranger finally gets a name. RED, thanks for the lattes at Avenue Rd Cafe and giving me the rogue Wookiee idea. Sly, I hope it's up to scratch, your eager eyes need wait no longer. And I added a little something in there that I normally wouldn't. To the one Bulgarian reading - thank you. Stoyan is named as a nod to you. Ms CT-782