I yawned as the next morning's sun attempted to open my eyelids. Another day of more training. At the mess hall, my tired gaze drifted to the tables. An orange figure bent over his food tray with a frown.

Usually, Carth hung around the Ebon Hawk stooped over the comms. But more recently he jumped from settlement to settlement in order to appease his boredom. I wondered why he didn't just leave—Malak left the Outer Rim a week ago to some unknown system.

I smirked before slapping him in the back.

"Yo, Orangy!"

He jumped then narrowed his eyes.

"What?"

I took a seat beside him and leaned with my hands on the back of my head. I had half an hour to get to my lessons with Zhar. It could wait.

"You're still sticking around? I'd thought you'd jump out of here weeks ago." My smile grew. "Why—are you going to miss my cunning witticisms?"

Carth pursed his lips. "I would have loved to have left by now, yet Admiral Dodonna wants to be kept in the know with the Jedi Council's 'mission.'" He threw his metal fork into the tray with a clatter. "Kinda hard to do that when I'm being left out of the loop."

"Left out of the loop?"

Carth shot up from the bench.

I waved as he walked off. "Hey, am I really that much of a pain in the arse?"

"How did you gain the ability to use the Force in the first place?" The soldier turned to give me an eye. "Does it really just sprout up randomly? That...that's not natural."

I crossed my arms. "Well, there is Nomi Sunrider. Apparently, she's someone like me who learned to use the Force in her later life. So, it happens."

"But how often? Not very. It doesn't matter if the Force was involved or not, it all sounds a bit too convenient." He pursed his lips in thought. "How were you captured anyway?"

I put my hands in my pockets with a sneer. "I don't want to talk about it."

"You better start talking about it."

"Why does it even matter? I thought you stopped being suspicious about all of this."

"Yeah, but I've been doing some thinking. Sure, they could have placed you on the Endar Spire as a test, but they would have let me know about it. They would have kept me in the loop. And the Jedi have never bothered looking in prisons for Force sensitives. So, unless the Jedi were the ones who captured you in the first place, this was a massive coincidence. And I don't believe in coincidences."

"Why would the Jedi capture a smuggler?" I asked. "They don't put their noses into the affairs of the Republic unless the Sith are involved."

"Were the Sith involved?"

I shot him a look. "No! And I don't think that's any of your business. Nor does it matter now that you have your answers."

To make a point, I stood from the table. I considered going to my lessons early again just to avoid these interrogations. At least people didn't like talking to me when I was waving a wooden stick around.

Carth stopped me with his voice this time. "I just seem to insult you at every turn, don't I? You might not think this is important but I do. I mean, haven't you felt it?"

I rolled my eyes but didn't turn around.

"Felt what?"

"Suspicious."

But that caused me to turn to face him. To be quite honest, there was something abnormal about the Jedi Council. Even though they helped train me for a month already, they always kept me at arm's length. In fact, everyone in this Enclave older than twenty kept their distance from me. What was I, a kinrath spider? A krayt dragon? Rabies-infected rancor?

Carth looked satisfied when he saw my dark expression.

"Then you see where I'm coming from."

I hissed. "You really are annoying, you know that right?"

"You can't trust anyone. Not even the Jedi. If you find that annoying, then I suppose I don't have the right to say anything."

Damn right he didn't.

"Fine," I spat. "You want answers? Well, you better listen closely then. I'm not going to say it again." I stuffed my hands in my pockets and stared out the window. "My crew sold me out. Apparently, they decided that my leadership wasn't worth the credits. The bastards. I hope they're still rotting in a cell or in a pile of debris for what they did."

"They sold you out?"

I faced Carth with a groan. "Do I have to tell you the whole story in order for you to leave me alone?"

The silent stare told me yes although I was praying for a sharp no. I wanted to kick something again.

"It was...I don't know—half a year ago? We made a pit stop near Corellia to deliver some...goods. Honestly, I'm not even sure who tipped them off, but while I was hashing out the details, Republic ships began to swarm us. Before they could pull us into a tractor beam, I made the stupidest decision in my career."

"Oh?"

Ugh, I could feel myself turning red with embarrassment already.

"In a panic, I sort of, kind of—crashed my ship onto the planet." When I saw Carth's horrified face I waved my hand. "Don't worry, I aimed for the swamps. I wanted to get out of there alive, after all."

"You crashed your own ship on purpose? And onto a populated planet?" he shrieked. "What were you damn thinking?"

"Hey, it was either that or surrendering to the core slimes. And I already told you it was a stupid decision." I thought back to that day. Pain. Fear. Darkness. I blinked. "I don't know if any of my crew survived the crash. I don't care. Next thing I know, I'm in a hospital close to death. They offered me a choice: either join the Republic or sit in a cell for the rest of my days. Guess what I picked? The Jedi arrived after that and the rest, of course, is history." I glanced around the Enclave walls. "And, what do you know—now I'm a Jedi ." I grinned. "So, we'll just forget about this whole thing, right?"

"So, what you're telling me is that all of this really was just a coincidence? I'm...not sure if I can accept that."

"The Force works in mysterious ways." He rolled his eyes as I waggled my eyebrows. I huffed. "Look I'm not lying—it was actually kind of embarrassing to admit that..." I rubbed the back of my head. "Hey, if it makes you feel any better I'm just as much out of the loop as you are."

I was going to leave it at that but Carth's shocked look made me pause.

"Are you serious? I rarely see you without Bastila anymore. And even when I find you without her, you're either meditating or talking to the Jedi Masters. I haven't even been introduced yet."

"Count yourself lucky there." I smirked. "And honestly even if you spoke to them, I doubt you'd get answers. I'm around them 24-7 and I still have questions they refuse to answer."

He huffed. "Okay...maybe I'm just overthinking this."

"You always overthink things, Orangy. That isn't really new."

Carth smirked back at me though his eyes still held suspicion in them. Before I could walk away towards the training halls, something bumped into me from behind. I calmed when I saw it was Mission grinning at me from ear to ear with Zaalbar who was holding... T3?

Obviously, the Twi'lek hadn't expected to run into us.

"Oh, wow, hey guys—Wessy! Haven't seen you in ages..."

Of course, Jedi training had been my life for the past month. And the persistent Masters never allowed for days where I could just do nothing. I smiled down at Mission then glanced at Zaalbar.

"What are you doing...exactly?"

T3-M4 beeped in horror—something about letting him go. I narrowed my eyes at the Twi'lek and she was twirling her lekku while gazing off towards Carth.

"Oh...nothing much. Big Z and I were just bored so we decided to go strolling around..."

I pointed towards T3. "Then why did you bring the droid with you?"

"T3 was...going too slow! That's right...he rolls around so slowly, so I asked Big Z to carry him!"

T3's negative beeping told me otherwise. I crossed my arms.

"Apparently not."

The Twi'lek flinched. "W-What?"

"I can understand T3 you know. So, care to tell me why you kidnapped the droid?"

Carth raised a brow. "Wait, you can understand him? How?"

I shrugged. "It's not really that difficult. There are different inflections—"

"Forget it... I wouldn't understand it anyway."

Thank the Force I didn't have to go over binary with the pilot. I already had a headache as it was.

Apparently, Zaalbar had enough of the droid and dropped it to the ground. T3 scurried over to my side and hid behind me as if a seven-foot-tall Wookiee wouldn't be able to just bowl me over anyway.

Mission brushed her lekku. "It's not what it looks like, really! We just...wanted him to...break into stuff." She held up her arms. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! But his state-of-the-art programs can't be wasted away on the ship, right?"

I smiled at the teen's great surprise. I was actually glad that they were getting into trouble, it meant that Mission was getting over Taris a bit. Of course, over the last month, I barely saw her so I wasn't able to be there during the grieving process. And, to be quite honest, I was glad I wasn't there. I wasn't much of a shoulder to cry on.

Carth crossed his arms. "You know that you could get arrested for those sorts of things, right?" he said. "I'm pretty sure thievery is a federal offense."

I rolled my eyes. "Let her have some fun, old man. She's not hurting anyone."

The blue Twi'lek smiled at me and I could hear a few beeping behind me in betrayal.

"Thanks, Wessy! I knew you would be on my side! Not like Mister Grumpy over there."

Mister Grumpy—aka Carth—actually looked offended.

"Of course she's hurting someone. And—don't egg her on! Aren't you a Jedi?"

I rubbed my chin with a smirk. "A very liberal Jedi with practical views—as they would say in the Senate." I gave the Twi'lek a thumbs up. "And I say go for it. Milk T3 for what he's worth."

That very same droid exploded in refusals and disbeliefs—mentioning some grumpy old man that beat him up when he tried to open a "supposedly" empty room. Gazing thoughtfully towards the droid, I tilted my head at Mission's excited eyes.

"Just be careful. We spent a lot on him after all..."

She waved a hand. "He'll be fine. Big Z'll fix him up if there is ever a problem!"

T3 seemed to quiet after her reassuring statement, however, beeped in terror when Zaalbar grabbed the droid once again by the chassis.

Before they left, I called out to them.

"By the way, where's that kid?"

Mission turned around, tilting her head.

"Kid? Oh! I thought he was with you."

My heart sank. I glanced towards Carth.

"Have you seen him?"

When he shook his head, I grew even more worried. I last saw him over a month ago and I figured that he was hanging around with Mission or Carth.

"Wait," Mission said. "You mean he wasn't with you this entire time? Where is he then?"

Carth narrowed his eyes at me. "How could you lose a kid like that?"

I raised my hands. "Hey, he wasn't my responsibility!"

"You're the one who rescued him!"

I sighed. Carth was right. I lost sight of the kid and who knew where he was now. Back in slaver hands? Out in the wilderness of Dantooine? Starved and lost? All of those possibilities frightened me.

I stormed towards the port. Carth called out.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going after the kid."

They didn't follow as I rushed away.

After hours of asking around, skipping my morning training session, Liam was nowhere to be found. I'd failed. Again.

I collapsed onto the grass by the lakeside. The only information I'd gained from asking around the spaceports had been rumors of the Mandalorians kidnapping children for ransom. One person had spotted a child of Liam's description trailing a blue armored Mando. It was my only lead. However, in order to locate the clan, I had to go outside the compound. I wasn't allowed to leave for too long—at least not until the Council deemed me "worthy." But I'll never be at this rate.

A shadow covered the ground. I cringed when I saw Bastila behind me. Instead of addressing her, I pulled at the grass in frustration.

Her voice was shrill. "I've spent all morning looking for you. Is there a reason why you skipped out on training today?"

I continued to pull at the grass. For a split second, I considered telling her about Liam and how I'd spent all morning trying to find him. Yet, I was reminded of the shame of my failure and all of those disappointed looks from the Masters. I couldn't let her know I'd failed again. It wasn't like she or any other Jedi would help me anyway.

"Why should I bother?" I threw some grass into the wind. "Nothing I do will be good enough."

"So, you're going to sulk out here like a child instead of sucking up your enormous ego and listen to the Masters?"

"Yup."

I could feel her seethe through the bond even though she didn't express that emotion. And I thought she would have marched away in anger like before. But instead, she sat in front of me. Her expression was unreadable. Despite our bond, I couldn't tell what she was feeling.

We stared at each other. For too long, really.

"It's not like you to give up, Wes."

I finally lost the stare battle and glanced across the lake. She rarely used my name. It was always "Apprentice " or "You."

"You obviously don't know a thing about me then."

"I know you're stubborn to a fault. So stubborn you'd outlast the patience of Master Vandar."

"Oh, is this supposed to be a Jedi pep-talk? Because it's starting to sound like one."

"You just...really? I'm trying to be encouraging here."

I met her gaze again. And she wasn't lying. Instead of disappointment or frustration marking her face, there was compassion. Empathy.

I sneered. "Well, it's a waste of your time."

She stared at me again for a long moment. Then, she stood. "I'd thought you'd change—at least a little. Guess you've made a fool out of me."

My breath froze in my lungs. I didn't look back as she stomped away back towards the Enclave. Why did I always seem to screw things up between us? With a final sigh, I pushed to my feet and stared back at the Enclave.

It was time to take matters into my own hands.

"Like Malak and Revan, Exar Kun was a Jedi who fell to the dark side and led an army against the Jedi and the Republic. Exar Kun was defeated, but the war left both the Republic and our own Order severely weakened. For twenty years we struggled to rebuild, trying to erase the scars of that terrible conflict. The Mandalorians, aware the Republic was in a weakened state…"

I drowned out Master Dorak's lesson as I began plotting my escape. Leaving the Enclave was no longer a problem anymore. But leaving after curfew? On purpose? And there were other problems besides the Masters. Like locating the Mandos in the first place and then somehow defend myself if I happened to run into them. I had no idea where the clan was and I had no weapons. I relinquished my blaster ages ago, thinking I wouldn't need one around the Jedi.

But then, I remembered.

Hopefully, Canderous Ordo is still around.

The sun was setting as I approached the Ebon Hawk. I smirked after spotting the Mando working on one of the rear panels. I'd seen him that morning working on the ship. It must be one of his new pet projects—repairing the Ebon Hawk in order to avoid the massive fees levied by the mechanics at the Enclave.

As I approached, he turned down his blowtorch. The Mando lifted the blast mask from his face, his neck had become stained with soot.

"What is it, pipsqueak?"

"That lightsaber," I said. "You still have it?"

He raised an eyebrow and his scar creased with it. "Maybe...you going to use it for something interesting?"

"When you were out there did you see a kid? The same one that came with us?"

His dark eyes narrowed. "No, but I saw some other kids. The brute I defeated was rounding them up for ransom. Cowards."

"I think they took Liam."

He shrugged. "There's not much you can do then. If no one responded to his ransom, he's probably long gone by now."

Canderous turned the blow torch on again so I had to shout over it.

"Where's the clan's hideout?"

The Mando lowered the torch again. "A few clicks out near the Eastern caverns." Canderous smirked. "You're not planning on going out there, are you?" I crossed my arms with a smirk on my face. The Mando chuckled then turned off the torch. "Son of a bitch. Sure, I'll give you the lightsaber, but I'm going with you."

I raised my brow. "Oh? I thought you'd say something along the lines of it being a suicide mission."

A bright spark lit Canderous' gaze. "Can't let you have all the fun, can I?"

The Enclave at night always had this eeriness about it—I wouldn't have been surprised if the ghosts of lost Jedi lived in the shadows. Sneaking out of my room was the easiest part of my plan. The droids, who were the only guardians of the halls, shuffled past the dorms. I was able to count their steps and sense their movements through the Force. Once the coast was clear, I raised my hood and briskly walked to the spaceport.

I had to be quick. No one could stop me once I got far enough away from the Enclave. I'd already been admonished by the Masters for more inconsequential things. Why not continue my streak of failures?

Canderous Ordo smirked when I arrived at the port. He'd slung his heavy blaster over his shoulder along with a few grenades at his belt. When I stopped, he threw the silver rod and I caught it deftly.

"Ready, pipsqueak?"

I rubbed my thumb over the grooves. The staff was awkward in my hand. Guilt radiated in my chest. A Jedi's weapon was made with the blood, sweat, and tears of the owner. It almost felt...wrong borrowing it.

I pushed those thoughts aside and hooked the lightsaber to my belt.

Outside the Enclave was even more desolate. There was nothing for miles and miles except flatlands. And a speeder bank. Once we grabbed one, I forced it to go as fast as possible past kath hounds and farmhouses. I didn't release my breath until the Enclave faded from sight in the rearview mirrors.

The Mando leaned on the door. "You're acting like you just got away with murder or something."

I peered back once then focused on the land before me. "Feels like it. The Masters would have dragged me back if I'd been caught."

Canderous chuckled. "I still think you're insane, by the way. Going to all this trouble to—what—rescue some kid you barely know?"

I gripped hard on the steering wheel. "He was my responsibility when I saved him on Taris. I was supposed to protect him. I failed."

Canderous was silent as I steered the speeder through naturally carved roads in the cliffs.

"Do you have a plan? The clan outnumbers us twentyfold."

"I'll have one," I shouted back. "And you'll know it when we get there."

We arrived at the caves when the large Dantooine moons were high above the horizon. The hills on the way there had been filled with restless kath hounds. All of them howled at us as we passed, running by as if attempting to flank us. Fortunately, our speeder outran them, but I worried they would attack us now that our guard was down.

I found a place hidden from the caves and stopped the speeder near the cliff's edge. Booming of drums and lights from campfires flickered in the valley below.

I kept my hand near the hilt of my borrowed lightsaber.

Down the hill was a whole encampment of them. Probably twenty or thirty armored Mandos sat around the campfires. A giant bonfire lit the entire valley making it next to impossible to sneak about the place. Tents pitched with grasses and sticks were set up haphazardly. Cages lined the center of the encampment and children of all ages were squished in there like paste. I kept low to the ground until I was flat on my belly in order to watch the lively bunch below. Canderous—thankfully—followed my example.

"So, pipsqueak, you gonna tell me your bright idea on rescuing the squirt?"

"Shh, I'm thinking."

Although they were far, I used a technique I read about one day when I was bored with the datapad. Using the Force, I focused on the closest Mandos near the cages. They spoke crudely in their language about some kill they achieved in their last hunt. One of them threw down a pazaak card—calling a twenty. The other stood in a rage.

Then, a man in black armor stormed up to them.

"What are you two idiots doing?" he shouted. "Pazaak? Games ?" He threw the table to the ground. "You are to make sure that Sith doesn't come crawling back. You hear me? Watch the damn camp!"

They both trembled—obviously, the two were not like the rest of their brethren in malice and bloodlust.

"Y-Yes, Mandalore."

I snorted. Mandalore? Hadn't that been the title of the leader of the Mandalorians? I doubt this guy was the actual thing. And what did they mean by Sith?

They scurried away from the table while picking up their credits—returning to their posts near the edge of the camp. Mandalore sighed—his mask creating static—as he stared off into the distant hills. I was worried that he would see us up in the cliffs—he probably had night or heat-vision in that visor of his—but he, fortunately, went back inside the caves.

Canderous edged closer.

"Well?"

I pointed to two Mandos standing at the edge of the camp. "I'll knock those two bozos out with the Force. We'll put on their helmets and armor and try to go unnoticed as we head for the cages."

"Okay, sounds simple enough. What do we do after that?"

"I'll cause a distraction. You get the children to safety in the nearest settlement."

Canderous snorted. "That's your plan? Really?"

"I was planning on sneaking them out, but they're right there in the open." I shifted. "Do you have any better ideas?"

The Mando only chuckled as his answer.

We moved away from the cliffside towards a shallow dip at the bottom of a valley. The rocks skipped as we slid down towards the edge of the camp. The night bugs around us masked any sounds we made, but the Mandalorian masks would spot us if we weren't careful.

Canderous stayed back as I snuck closer to the encampment. The only good place to hide was by a bush and a scraggly tree. The two pazaak playing Mandos held cortosis staffs and rifles at the ready—eager to shoot anything that moved. It was one thing to say I'd use the Force to take them down but it was another to follow through. I couldn't hit them over the head with anything due to their armor. Neither could I directly confront them without causing a scene.

A kath hound howled in the distance.

The booming power of the Force radiated in the air. I focused on one of the tree branches and it snapped with the pressure.

Both Mandalorians raised their blasters up at the disturbance.

"Who goes there?" the one on the left stupidly asked.

The one on the right pushed the other forward. "You go check it out. I'll stay back in case it's that crazy Cathar again."

I pressed myself against the tree and watched the Mandalorian march closer and closer...until he was right next to me. His masked face turned, however, before he could alert his friend of my presence, I waved my hand.

"You will tell your friend it's nothing."

"It's nothing," he called back to the other guard.

"You want to take off your helmet."

He took off his silver helmet without hesitation revealing a scarred ugly face. Then, I bashed that face in with the back of the lightsaber and he fell with a loud crack.

Ugh, forgot falling bodies made a racket.

"Toh?" The other Mando had begun to move again. "What's going on?"

I pulled the unconscious Mandalorian into the bush which caused even more noise. Before I could slip on the helmet, the sound of a blaster heating up came from the direction of the other Mando.

"You—!"

Yet the rest of his words garbled when Canderous stabbed him in the neck from behind. His body unceremoniously joined his friend's. An amused look on Canderous' face reflected in the lowlight.

I sighed in relief.

We stripped the Mandos of their armor and helmets and dressed as fast as possible. The helmet illuminated the ground around me in a bright blue. I nodded to Canderous and we marched towards the camp.

It helped that these brutes liked to wear masks. No one batted an eye as we moved towards the cages at the center of the camp. All of the Mandalorians chatted with each other in Mando'a while cutting up kath hounds for food, sharpening their cortosis blades, and playing dice.

Canderous and I almost made it to the cages before something had to happen.

"Hey, you!"

He'd called that out in Mando'a. I flinched then spun. A blue armored Mandalorian approached with aggression in his stride.

"Mandalore told you to stay at your post."

Canderous flinched. " Mandalore ?"

I gave Canderous a look through the mask, yet the only response he had was the shaking of his shoulders as he held back a laugh.

"Yes…" Blue Mando crossed his arms. "Now, get back there or I will throw you to the hounds myself."

I glanced about in order to make sure we weren't being heard, then waved a hand.

"We are supposed to be here."

The Mando didn't speak for a moment and I thought I'd failed at using Force persuasion on him because of the mask. Fortunately, he took a breath.

"You are supposed to be here."

"Leave. Now."

I sent more power into that command. Blue Mando shuffled backward then dragged his feet back into the cave.

Canderous snorted. "That little Jedi trick has been useful, eh? It's almost cheating."

I shook my head. "It only works on the dull of mind. We better hurry before our luck in that department runs out."

"Oh, I doubt it will."

We both approached the three cages. Around ten children and five teens sat huddled together. I tried to find Liam amongst the group, yet the little tach monkey never met my gaze. Frowning, I bent down to the level of the children so that they could hear my voice over the racket.

"Everyone."

No one looked at me—probably due to the mask. I lifted it from my face enough so that they could see I wasn't a Mando.

"We're here to rescue you, but you can't make any noise."

The children all perked up and, fortunately, they did as they were told. I glanced at Canderous who nodded with his blaster ready in hand.

Now comes the fun part.

"You're going to go with my friend here while I cause some chaos." I put the mask back on and addressed Canderous. "I don't see Liam."

His silver mask tilted. "You think he's in there?" He nodded to the cave.

Kriff, I really hope he wasn't in there. But I couldn't leave without knowing. I bent down to the level of the kids again.

"Are there any others?"

They all shook their heads in the negative.

Great, so, this was all pointless. No, not completely. There were still these children left to save at least. I tempered my anger before I faced Canderous again.

"You'll know when to start."

In the center of the encampment was a massive bonfire. Surrounding said bonfire were rows of kath hounds being roasted on pikes. I made my way towards the fire, gripping the lightsaber at my belt. I turned and faced Canderous who was watching on—probably thinking I'd lost my marbles. And, honestly, yes.

The lightsaber hissed awake and a blue glow lit the ground along with the red of the blaze behind me.

All twenty Mandalorians shot up from their fixed positions. They pointed their blasters at me.

"Jedi!" one shouted. "And a stupid one at that!"

A red armored Mando stepped closer with a blaster raised.

"How dare you wear our beskar'gam, Jedi scum."

Before any of them could go on the attack, I focused on the flames behind me. The buzz of the Force gripped onto the coals of the bonfire. Then, with a push of my hand, hot projectiles rained down on the Mandalorians and the surrounding area.

They immediately opened fire yet the flames acted as my shield. The hot balls of fire had begun to spread onto their tents and the dry grasses around them. A few had made direct hits and the ones who had barely any armor began to light ablaze. Their screams echoed into the night. I twisted the lightsaber to reflect the few bolts that ended up near me, but with so much happening none of the Mandos were able to hit me directly. Some had begun to try and put out the fires.

Canderous bashed the cage doors open. The children all followed him into the darkness of the valley. I smirked. At least I did something right.

It was my turn to exit.

But a vibroblade descended. I blocked with the lightsaber and flinched as the blue blade hissed with impact. I'd been so used to practice blades that I'd forgotten how dangerous it was holding the actual thing. The red-masked Mandalorian cackled before swinging his blade once more. Twisting into a more defensive stance, I deflected the blade into the bonfire. Lifting my hand, I pushed with the Force onto the Mandalorian and he went flying after his sword.

I tried to ignore the screams as the Mando burned alive. I twirled the lightsaber as I faced my next opponent. I need to get out of here. But I'd inadvertently trapped myself within the blaze I'd started. Figures. I used the Force to push some of the flames aside, yet it returned only seconds later as it ate the tall grasses.

Another Mandalorian managed to find me. I gritted my teeth as I blocked his blow from cleaving me in half. He bashed my head before I could twist away, causing the loose helmet to fly off into the smoke surrounding us. It was then when I realized more of them had joined my opponent.

"Kriff."

Unfortunately, the realization that I was completely surrounded only distracted me from the large force connecting with my face.

A golden mask surrounded by flames…

My head pounded as I jolted awake after being splashed by water. A muffled voice echoed above me.

"Very clever, Jedi."

My gaze blurred and my hands shook as they found purchase on the rocky floor I'd been dumped on. I pushed up, however, a boot forced me back down. Surprisingly, these Mandos hadn't chained me up. If my mind could just... focus for one second, I could use the Force on the idiot stepping on me.

"In one night you've done what three of your companions could not. You stole my credits, destroyed my camp, and killed ten good men." A black boot came into focus next to my forehead. "I should have let you burn. But I haven't had a challenge like this since the war."

I tried to focus on the boot, however, no matter how hard I looked it remained a black mass. Eventually, I was dragged up to my knees. I lifted a hand, aiming at whatever. But the colors of the Mandos in the cave blended together and I almost threw up dinner. Kriff, what was wrong with me?

"Trying to use your magics? It won't work. You've got a new piece of jewelry."

A cold device strangled my neck. A neural disruptor—like the one Bastila had been put in by Brejik. Force...no wonder it took her forever to break free of that. It was impossible to focus or concentrate with this thing on.

A flash of silver clattered by my knees.

"Pick it up, Jedi. Let's see you fight."

I was shoved and released. My bare hands gripped the cold steel of the lightsaber. Before I could try to brandish the weapon, a large force kicked me in the ribs. Seething as I rolled away, I scrambled to my feet, tripping into a table that materialized. It tipped over and a choir of laughter roared around me.

My ears burned and I somehow found the button to ignite the blade. I held the staff in a shaky hold—probably looking as menacing as a Jawa. "Mandalore" watched through his dark helm then held a double-sided vibroblade in a dangerous stance. He twirled it with pride then tapped my blade as if he was swatting a fly.

Somehow, that caused me to stumble back, off-balanced, yet I righted myself quickly.

"Look at you. Can barely stand without your precious Force." He swiped at me again yet this time he cut my chest—skin deep. "Te Ani'la Mand'alor was weak to fail against a foe like you."

"Mandalore" made a few more jabs at me. It became obvious that he was mocking me after I tripped and stumbled to the floor and he didn't skewer me in half. All the while, in desperation, I tried to focus, yet only the pain from collapsing ever brought me closer to breaking him apart.

A chair fell into his path.

That only caused him to laugh.

"Nice try."

When I was kicked and thrown to the ground again, I felt it. A light. It was distant, warm, inviting. Familiar. Bastila. Then, it all came into focus. The blood dripping from kath hound carcasses. The crowd of Mandos jeering on our "fight." The smoke clouding the air. Glowing crystals in the walls pulsed with the power of the Force.

"Mandalore" held his blade to my chest.

"Any last words, Jedi?"

Click.

I blocked the vibroblade with the lightsaber and disarmed him with a flick of my wrist. The neural disruptor, now broken in half, fell to the cavern floor.

"You—!"

I didn't let him finish and stabbed him through the neck. It was sudden, too sudden. "Mandalore's" body crumbled after I took his head from his neck, the thing bouncing off towards the bread rolls that had fallen off the table.

Utter. Silence.

Then, blasters all turned on me.

Kriff.

However, before they could shoot me to death, multiple hisses erupted from the far side of the cavern. And I felt a familiar presence with them.

Bastila along with Masters Zhar, Dorak, and Vandar held their lightsabers poised.

They didn't say anything before they began their attack on the Mandalorians. Unlike my own chaotic fight previously, each of the Masters glided into battle as if it were a calm lake. Zhar used his proficient lightsaber skills to disarm and maim the melee-wielding Mandos near the entrance. Dorak sent a large boom and the Force froze half of the Mandos in place. Bastila twirled her saber and soared in the air like a brith. Master Vandar focused on the surrounding terrain and slammed rocks into the rest.

I didn't even lift a finger as the Masters took out the rest of the Mandalorian hoard. Instead, I was in a state of shock both that they'd somehow rescued me and at how practiced they were as they took out their foes.

When the last Mandalorian fell, only the sound of the crackling flames and the humming crystals remained.