Chapter Seventy-One: Murderers

The journey back to Coruscant from Umbara was a quiet one, the halls filled with sadness. In the silence of the night, when all the weary soldiers were resting in the barracks, I snuck my way to the officer's quarters.

I sensed Rex was in the fresher when I approached his door. It was locked. As violating as it might have been, I waved my hand over the lock, letting the Force open it. I stepped in, waiting for the captain to emerge from his private bathroom.

When he did, he didn't seem shocked to see me. After all, I'd touched his mind the moment I entered his room, letting him know I was there. As he dressed slowly in loose black pants, I looked over the bruises decorating his back. Even worse, I felt the wounds that now dwelled in his mind.

Neither of us spoke as Rex prepared for bed. I was already in loose pants and a shirt, my boots kicked off at the door. When he was ready, the captain made his way to his small cot, and crawled beneath the starched sheet. He shifted until he was comfortable on his back before he lifted the sheet, looking to me expectantly.

I crawled in eagerly, letting him fall into my arms. It wasn't long before I felt him trembling against me, but I knew there was nothing I could say to comfort him. There was nothing that could rectify the terrible things that had happened under Krell. Nothing would bring back the brothers he'd lost in such senseless, evil violence.

So I said nothing. I just held him against me, my hands rubbing his back in soothing circles as he cried. My neck grew wet with the tears he shed, and I was surprised to find myself crying, too.

We stayed that way until I felt Rex still, finally too exhausted to stay awake any longer or recite his remembrance before sleeping. I refused to sleep, taking the chance to savor the relaxed expression on his face. It had been a while since I'd see it. Yet….the more I looked at it, his brows seemed to crease even in his sleep.

Umbara would plague his dreams tonight, I knew.

Hence why I'd elected to stay with him, and he hadn't disagreed. It seemed he knew that eventuality, too. And a downside of being a captain and having your own quarters was that he didn't have his brothers in the room with him for comfort, as they had been all his life.

Eventually, when my eyes could no longer find the energy to trace Rex's features, I fell into my own fitful sleep, still clutching to his side.

I was dragged from my thoughts with the same violence in which I was dragged from my perch on the speeder. The wind was bitter, Padme's shawl doing next to nothing against the frost of the recent snowfall. Still, the blooming winter trees were gorgeous, raining pink petals over the tiny village.

The Death Watch warrior pulling me finally stopped when Pre Vizsla descended beside us, his jet pack roaring. I made sure to accentuate my limp, especially since it had gotten significantly better during my healing sessions through the night. I was tired...exhausted, even...but it was worth it. I was no use to these victims of Death Watch with a bum leg.

Vizsla's gloved hand touched my shoulder, and though I couldn't see his face behind his painted helmet, I could tell he was smirking. I resisted the urge to draw his knife that I had concealed up my sleeve and stab him.

I was outnumbered and R2 was nowhere to be found. Thus….no lightsaber. And I knew a particularly talented swordmaster with a saber of his own. I didn't really want another scar from the Darksaber today.

"Translate," Vizsla commanded. I rolled my eyes when I turned away. Obviously I was there to translate. And be humiliated further, probably.

Chieftain Pieter shuffled forward, his face alight with hope. My soul, however, was heavy with worry. Death Watch would never give up their prizes just because they were asked. These people were signing their own death warrants.

The chieftain began to speak, so I translated. "You have kept your word. We are very grateful for your understanding." Pieter bowed lowly, smiling gently at us. I glanced away, blinking away the fearful tears. His gratefulness wavered, however, when the sound of dozens of jetpacks filled the air.

Members of Death Watch descended from the low-hanging clouds, settling atop the village huts like vultures. "I am a man of my word," Vizsla said, nodding at me to translate. He grabbed Tryla's arm, guiding her back to her people. He gave her a light shove forward. "Here is your granddaughter, as promised!"

"No!" I cried at the same time as Tryla, leaping forward as Vizsla drew his blade from over his shoulder, thrusting it forward. I was too far away, but Tryla wasn't. She dove in front of the weapon, shielding her grandfather. "Tryla," I gasped, rushing past Vizsla to kneel at her side.

Her chest was smoking from where the blade had passed through and burned the flesh. She was gasping for breath. "She wasn't very fun anyway," Vizsla chuckled crudely, earning a deadly glare from me. My anger festered inside me, as it had with Krell. The gate I'd built within myself to keep the darkness balanced had broken on Umbara. It was still….leaking.

But he ignored my look. "Kill them," Vizsla hissed to his men. "Kill them all!"

All around us, chaos erupted. The roar of flamethrowers echoed amongst the screams of the villagers.

"No!"

"Our village!"

"Run for your life!"

Everything was burning. The chieftain was practically dragged away by his attendants as they struggled to get him to safety. "Kida," looked down suddenly at Tryla's gasping voice. "Help them. Please. Save my people. Save them. Save…" She went limp in my arms, her head falling back.

"Why?" I heard Lux gasp in horror. "What are you doing?"

"Never let the weak tell you what to do," Vizsla explained, wrapping his arm around Lux's shoulders. He gestured to the burning village with his black blade. "Welcome to Death Watch!"

I brushed my fingertips down Tryla's face, shutting her eyes. "Rest now," I whispered to her prone form as I laid her down, my anger rising. "They can't hurt you anymore."

Now was the time to fight.

The blade tucked into my sleeve slipped into my grasp within a second, only to be thrown at the nearest member of Death Watch. He screamed when the knife dug between the gaps in his armor, tearing through rather important ligaments.

He didn't even get a chance to turn around and see his attacker, though. I was behind him immediately, snatching the pistol from his belt and shooting him twice before he even had the chance to land a punch. As he fell, I pulled the knife from his shoulder.

Now armed with a pistol, it was easier to begin targeting the warriors on the roofs, burning from above. I gunned two down easily, the third dodging my shots when she saw her companions fall.

I rolled to the side as she opened fire, blasting into the air with her jetpack. But I was tapped into the Force now, letting me dip my head side to side in order to dodge the blaster fire. Ducking into the entrance of a hut, I barely avoided a missile that another member of Death Watch had fired.

Between my ragged breaths, I glanced sideways to see three young villagers, the smallest looking like he had just learned to walk. The hut shook around us, embers raining from the ceiling. I was about to tell them to move when a cord wrapped around my legs. It tightened over my knees, cinching them together violently. I slammed into the ground, immediately clawing at the frozen floor of the hut as the warrior's tether pulled me in like a fish.

The roof was buckling over the charred beams, creaking with a dark warning. "Run!" I screamed in their tongue, but they all looked too frightened to move. There was a large window behind them. Going through it wouldn't feel good, but it would hurt less than being crushed by a burning building.

I threw all caution to the wind-as seemed to be my preferred poison of the day-and thrust out my hands. Letting go of the ground meant I was wrenched from the hut in a matter of seconds. But seconds were all I needed.

The Force listened, greeting me like an old friend. It pushed from my hands and swept over the children. They were kicked up into the air and thrown backwards out of the window, their legs flying over their heads. Only moments after my face left the porch of a hut and smacked into snow, the roof collapsed with a terrible, cracking groan.

I felt the tension rise around me. Some of the Death Watch warriors had seen what I'd done. They knew what I could do. I had their attention now.

Osik.

I hadn't entirely planned for that to happen so soon. I'd have loved a fun, climactic reveal in which I kicked Vizsla's pasty shebs with the Force.

Oh well. There was no time to waste, then. I rolled on the cold ground, kicking my legs to slacken the cord, before sliding loose from it entirely. My hand reached out, calling the pistol I'd dropped back to my hands. I opened fire, taking down the first warrior with four shots to three separate weak points in his armor. He was too stunned to react, I supposed.

Rolling forward to duck behind one of Death Watch's speeders, I fired on another warrior as she flew in the air above me. I could barely contain the smirk that graced my lips when I caught sight of a belt of thermals on the nearby speeder. After volleying a few more shots with the few warriors that were entirely focused on me now, I slid to the next bike, slinging the belt of thermals over my shoulder.

The first was in my hand in a moment, my thumb sliding the activator up before I threw it into the air. When it neared the Death Watch soldiers that loomed with their jet packs, I braced my arm against the bike and fired my pistol. The detonator exploded, definitely killing at least one. Probably two. Two others were definitely not feeling great.

How strangely satisfying.

I shook off the dark thought and quickly armed the speeder ahead of me with two detonators-one near each fuel cell. Revving the engine, I listened carefully over the screams of the villagers and shots from Death Watch. The beeping of the detonators began to tick faster. I shifted the speeder forward, letting it drag me with it towards one of the transports Death Watch had used.

I released in a moment, rolling through the snow as the speeder zipped past. It plowed into the transport, flipping up and over it with a satisfying crash. The detonators blew a moment later, bathing the morning sky with bright orange.

I found my feet, throwing my shoulder into the nearest warrior. She slammed back into the side of a hut, only to have my knee connect with the bottom of her helmet. Osik, that hurt. Beskar was HARD. And I didn't have my damn armor on.

Nonetheless, her helmet flew off her head, giving me a perfect killshot. I swept up one of her dropped weapons, now firing from both hands. I had everyone's attention now.

As much as that likely spelled out my own butt getting kicked….the villagers could get away for now.

I had to completely focus on the moment, letting my body dance around as many shots as I could. I managed to land a few shots myself, but I was one person against a small army. A wire wrapped around my wrist suddenly, yanking me sideways. I let out a small squeal of surprise, firing wildly as my focus was broken.

The ground was hard beneath me in its frozen state, scraping along my rather unprotected torso. Ditching the second gun to get better control, I spun myself around to plant my feet, pulling against the wire to lift my hand. The warrior realized his mistake too late. In the time he waisted trying to drag me towards him, I fired three times. Two hit their mark, dropping him to the dirt.

I found my feet in seconds, racing towards my nearest shelter...only to be yanked backwards by the same hand. What the-

Osik. The wire was still bound around my wrist….and thus, to the now dead Death Watch member.

With more muttered curses, I rolled sideways to avoid more blaster fire. Stopping to fire up at the air, I wasn't shocked to find myself surrounded. What shocked me was the fact that I wasn't dead yet.

I found my feet slowly, watching three members of Death Watch land around me, their jet packs hissing.

"This will be fun," one of the women chuckled darkly through her helmet, drawing a vibro-knife from her wrist gauntlet.

I aimed my pistol at her immediately, only for it to be blasted from my hand. I let out an angry, pained curse at the burning in my hand from the contact. The shot had hit the gun, but the contact still heated it like it was thrown in a beskar furnace.

Now weaponless, I ducked beneath the warrior's swinging blade, looping my wrist over hers. Pulling tight as I spun behind her, I trapped her arm against her chestplate, letting me locker her other in a back hold.

The Force prickled the skin on the back of my neck. I spun us both, letting her take the shots from her fellow warriors as they shot at me. Killing their clanmate wasn't something they liked doing.

The first warrior screamed in a mix of agony and rage, rushing me with his pistols drawn. I snatched the knife from where it was pinned against the dead woman in front of me, cutting the tie between us with it.

I shoved her body forward, successfully slowing my first attacker as he stumbled over her. I threw the knife as the second warrior, but freaking missed.

With a scowl, I dove forward in a roll, snatching up a piece of piping that had come from the destroyed speeder and transport. I spun it deftly in my hands, knocking the second warrior's aim sideways as he tried to shoot me.

One side of the pipe was jagged and sharp. That was the side that slipped between the gaps in his beskar and under his ribs.

I pulled it free as more warriors dropped to the ground. It seemed their slight amusement at my display dwindled when I started to kill their warriors. I bared my teeth at them, holding the long pipe like a bo-staff before me.

It was a blur. The pipe kept them back for a few seconds, giving me a wide range to attack them. And then I heard a familiar, high-pitched whir of energy.

I spun as Vizsla leapt forward with his Darksaber ignited, before he sliced my pipe in two. I threw them at him, but that didn't seem to faze him much as I dodged his swinging strikes. He wasn't going for the kill, though. I could tell.

A wire wrapped around my calf, yanking me backwards. I managed to catch myself, if only a little, with my hands. Still split my lip as I face-planted the ground, though. I was hurting, exhausted, and out of breath, but I shoved myself up in an attempt to hit Vizsla.

Another wire wrapped around the fist that was aimed at Vizsla's stupid face. And then another around my other elbow. Another. And another. Until I couldn't move anymore. I glared up at Vizsla as he stepped over me, the Darksaber humming close to my face.

"A slave. To a bounty hunter. To a Jedi. You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" he chuckled over me, speaking loud enough for his warriors to hear. "Drag her back to camp."

I was bound and forced to kneel in the cold outside, the bonfire blazing to my left. Everyone had gathered to see my execution, drinks in hand.

"Now, Lux Bonteri," Vizsla growled at the young man, also bound and held in place by a warrior. He struggled uselessly against his bindings. "This does not look good. This does not look good at all." My eyes slid closed slowly, my mind turning through my options silently. "I asked you to join us in good faith, and you bring a Jedi into our camp!"

Lux wasn't intimidated by Vizsla's firm grasp on his shoulder. "She wasn't meant to be here." And then he surprised me, whispering, "Please. Let her go."

Some of the warriors chuckled darkly as their leader drew the Darksaber hilt from over his shoulder. "I'm afraid that's not an option."

"I believed you had honor," Lux argued with as much passion as his mother had. My eyes snapped open. Honor. "But you're just murderers! No better than Dooku."

Vizsla pointed the unignited hilt at the young Bonteri. "You call us murderers, and yet it was your own lust for revenge that made you seek us out." I glanced sideways, seeing R2 near one of the tents, rolling around anxiously.

"I wanted justice for my mother's death," Lux defended, his eyes downcast but full of grief.

"And you shall have it," Vizsla promised, "But the Jedi are no different from Dooku and this one shall pay in part for their crimes against Mandalore. So you see, it's not murder at all. It's justice!" He raised his blade, igniting it.

I met his gaze for the first time, loading all of my anger behind my eyes for him to see. "I am not a Jedi," I yelled, so the whole camp could hear.

Vizsla only chuckled, prompting his warriors to do the same. "And calling weapons to your hand was…?"

"No, it's true," Lux jumped in. "She's contracted by the Republic, but the Jedi don't consider her one of their own."

The pompous Mandalorian paused for a moment, glancing at me in question. I shrugged, giving him a dark look. "They think I'm dangerous." It wasn't entirely a lie. I was just omitting that they trusted me now, despite that.

Vizsla was quiet, his mind reeling. "For once, I agree." He lifted his blade again.

"I challenge you!" I screamed, the Darksaber stopping mere inches from my neck. I let out a small, shaky breath before continuing. "One warrior to another."

"Why would I do that and give you the chance of escaping?"

"Because you have something to gain." After a beat, the Darksaber moved away from my face to hand by Vizsla's side. He remained silent, so I continued. "If I win, Bonteri and I go back to our ship and leave the system, unharmed."

"If I win?" he prodded, seeming sure of himself.

I breathed out slowly, steadying myself. "If you win, I'll join Death Watch."

MANDO'A

Osik- shit

Shebs- ass

Author's Note:

Hi everyone! I am really sorry for how long it took me to update this. I moved states (during a pandemic wooho) and have had a lot going on. And, true to my pen name, I have been suffering from some severe writer's block.

As always, comments/likes/reposts are always welcome!

-Ryder