Chapter 6

Inquest

Edge of territory. Musk fading. Musk interrupted. Nonclan! Intruders! Tall! Smell like fresh meat! Meat for eggs! Charge! Attack! Bite! Poison!

Pain. Hurt.

Protect the eggs. Attack the intruders! Ignore pain. Get up. Get up.

Burning. Burning. Darkness.

"Kinrath are simple creatures. I read the briefings on Kashyyk. If we're in their territory, they'll attack on sight. Or smell. Not sure which they use more." Arc said as he nudged the dead creature with his boot. "Be careful. Their bite is poisonous. One won't kill you, but it'll hurt for days. Two or three and you're getting into risky territory."

"Well, let's try not to provoke them," Ahsoka said. "I don't know what they're doing here on Dantooine, but whatever happens, we don't have the right to wipe them out in their own home."

"We may not have a choice, Ahsoka. They're very territorial."

Jyssa spit out a bit of her sweetreed. Or honeyroot. She still hadn't decided on a name. "Territory or not, if one of them comes charging at me and showing off those syringes that it calls teeth, I'm not gonna hold my fire."

"All right, but try to keep contact to a minimum. This is my mission. My rules."

Jyssa snorted, "Jedi."

Ahsoka held her hand out in front of her, feeling through the Force. Up ahead there were dozens of little hints of reflections in the Force. In the Force, it felt just like the caves on Ilum. Thankfully these caves weren't nearly as cold.

The cave forked, and some faint sounds of clacking could be heard from the left fork. Ahsoka said, "Let's take the right."

"I can get behind that." Jyssa kept her glow rod pointed to the right, so as not to alert any nearby kinrath down the other tunnel. Since she had her glow rod pointed ahead, she was the first one to see the body. And the only one of the three to yelp in surprise.

Arc kneeled down by the body. "This is ancient."

"I can tell. It's covered in dust," said Jyssa.

"No, I mean the armor. This is Neo-Crusader era Mandalorian armor. If it belonged to someone famous, or even if its just made of actual beskar, it's worth a mint." He brushed some of the dirt from the visor. "I wonder if we're related."

Ahsoka pointed her light a little further ahead. "I think I found his weapon." A long, thin shape could be seen in the dirt a few meters ahead. Ahsoka raised her hand and pulled it to her with the Force. "Wow... this is heavy."

"That's a beskad. Traditional Mandalorian saber. It's heavy because it's solid beskar. Mandalorian iron. Maybe you should use it instead of a lightsaber. Some of the ARCs who were trained by Mandos claim that beskar can even block a lightsaber." Ahsoka let it float over to him, and he put his blaster away. With his left hand he grabbed the handle. "If this sword really belonged to this guy, it's got to be about as old as the Jedi enclave here. Wow, it is heavy."

He swung it around a few times. "It would take me a while to work up the strength to use this. Still, I think it's kept an edge this whole time."

Jyssa grinned, "You really are out of shape. Can't even lift a little sword."

Arc offered the blade to her. "Here, give it a try."

"I'll keep my blaster, thanks."

"Suit yourself." He knelt down by the body and lifted the helmet off. The remains inside were practically dust, barely recognizable as even human. "It looks like most of this is rusted right through. Probably durasteel. Or some equivalent that they used back then."

Ahsoka knelt down next to him and shone her glowlamp at the armor. "The left forearm is a different color from the rest."

"You're right, it is." Arc poked the upper arm armor, and even a light push from the beskad dented it. He repeated it on the forearm plate, and the only effect was a dull thump. He set the sword down and started to unlatch the armored bracer. "I think he's got one piece of good Mandalorian iron. I should find out his name."

Pieces of bone, dust, and old rust-rotted metal fell out as he opened up the armor piece. But the hinges were steady and it came off. "It looks like he had a wrist mounted weapon of some kind in there, too. That could come in handy."

"Okay, am I the only one here who isn't a big fan of robbing corpses?" Jyssa stood back away from the armor. "Grife, I'm the one who brought a group of kriffing archeologists to this planet and agreed to bring them and their finds back. I guess I can't really criticize. Why in the core do you need to know his name, though?"

"I may only be Mando by blood, but I learned a bit from some of my brothers. Mandalorians remember the names of the fallen. It's a way of... I don't know, showing respect. Kind of. It's hard to describe. They also keep armor pieces as a way of remembering. So I think if I'm going to take his armor, I should know his name."

"It's too bad there's not much left of the paint job on this armor," said Ahsoka. "There's no crest. You can't really tell colors."

"Lorda Vhett. Clan Rokar," said Jyssa.

Arc turned his head towards her, his one good eyebrow raised. "Where did you get that from?"

"Well, you could say the writing is on the wall."

Ahsoka pointed her glow rod at the rock face, to see badly scratched words on the rock. A small knife, mostly rusted away, was stuck in a crack next to the writing. "You weren't kidding."

"Lorda... that's a woman's name. You can't really tell by the armor. Neo-Crusader era armor was bulky," said Arc. "She must have killed the kinrath, but was poisoned too badly to get away. So she left her name and clan here. To be remembered."

Ahsoka asked, "Is Vhett an older version of Fett?"

"No, it's just the Mandalorian version. Fett was a translation that stuck. Vhett actually means 'farmer'. It's actually a pretty common name. I doubt we're actually related."

"Still. Now you know her name."

Arc nodded, and slipped the bracer over his left forearm. With some difficulty, he managed to push down the latches. "It fits. I'm a little surprised."

Jyssa said, wryly, "Yes, well, if you're done putting your new jewelry on your delicate little girly wrists, I'd like to get out of this kinrath-infested cave sometime soon. Can we get a move on?"

"I don't know. Does it match my outfit?"