Chapter 65- Breaking Down Walls
"YOUNGLING, put down that box." Dooku ordered. He looked down at a time piece. It had only been an hour. 'How in the force has it only been an hour? Qui-gon was never this much trouble,' The old master grumbled. When Yoda left to go meet Jango and his Mandalorian clan, he'd decided to take the two Jedi shadows with him. It was logical, after all. They were a lot younger than he was. And then Tol, his eldest, volunteered to go with them. Dooku was proud of him, and grateful the others welcomed his help. The only hiccup was that left one possible youngling sitter among them, and he'd apparently drawn that straw before he'd even realized it.
"But GrandMaster," Anakin whined.
"No Buts. This is a storage shed filled with unknown cargo. There could be a Blaster in that box." Dooku lectured. And it was true. A lot of worse items could be found in transport cargo, especially in the section pulled by scanners as being potentially illegal cargo. As it was for the items in the hold they were hiding in now. Sure, with the Force he could settle that worry, but then with the sheer number of boxes in the storage compartment they were hiding in, it was far easier to command the younglings not to touch anything. He'd forgotten how helpful having his older apprentice, and a palace filled with servants was. It was something to consider if he ever gets to apprentice any other fallen jedi.
"B… I was trying to get to your comm. It fell back there, and it's been going off." the youngling explained.
Dooku looked around in confusion, and felt for his comlink in his pocket. It wasn't there. Then he remembered checking it earlier when one of the younglings came in squealing about something. 'Where did I put it?' He went over and bent down to look behind the box Anakin was trying to move. 'There it is.' He used the Force to pick up the comlink, then activated it to read a message from Yoda.
"With us, Jango Fett is. Outside of the hangar, meet us."
Dooku sighed, "Alright everybody, it's time to go."
Youngling Anakin reached out again to a box. Dooku gave him a very firm eye and growled at him, "Mmmmmmm." The youngling backed away, and Dooku used the Force to gently restack it with the other boxes in the shed. "Line up, by the door. There ya go." Dooku counted the younglings, all eight were there, and in one piece. And so he opened the door. "Follow me now."
Dooku stared at the Mandalorians. He blinked a little, then turned his head to inspect them at another angle. Indeed they were barely teens. Some were not even that old. Fett stood in front of them with his head up, proud of his little army. Dooku closed his eyes and inwardly chuckled, 'Little army, pf-hah.' Now he understood what keywords led Anakin to think of this alternative.
"Master, Master, we need to talk," Dooku summoned Yoda off to the side. Surely these were Sifo-dyas's clone army, as all were identical, but Dooku was hesitant to consider them expendable, no matter how many of them Jango had. They were still younglings. He didn't believe the Grandmaster was unaware of this factor when he approved their plan, but now that he was…
Yoda nodded to Jango, then joined Dooku a few steps away from them all. "Yes, Dooku. Complaints you have?"
"Complaints, you know where we need to go. I have a problem leading our younglings there."
"Into the Temple, they do not need to go. Already told Jango this, I did. Remember?"
"But the undercity is very dangerous. There are creatures there that live their whole lives without seeing the light of day. Animals who've mutated because of the pollution from the city above…"
"Do we have a problem here?" Jango's voice interrupted Dooku's rant.
Yoda turned to him. "Questions for the youngling's safety, he has. Settle them, I'm sure you can."
Dooku eyed his Master nervously. He knew what questioning his youngling's strengths would sound like to the Mandalorian. An insult.
"Oh yes. I've been to the Undercity before, and I know what you're afraid of." Jango replied. Then he turned back to lead Dooku towards his younglings who hadn't left where they were standing. Dooku had to admit, that took discipline. "Every one of my ade is trained with both artillery and bladed type weapons. They have taken survival skills courses at the Kamini compound, ones I've only been expanding on. And they are all fitted with EVA suits, fitted with rebreather units and radiation absorbers. Top of the line, I've even got extras for your own Ade."
"Yes, yes. I'm sure…" Dooku huffed.
Jango looked around him. "I even have a map of the region, and have planned a route. Copikla'ulik," He waved his arm and a youngling stepped out of formation with a datapad, which he handed his Buir.
"Cute Little Animal, huh." Dooku translated.
"He can shorten it to Ulik, when he gets older. Besides, it's better than V-Fox-s! It's what his brothers were calling him before, and it doesn't roll off the tongue at all." Jango defended.
Most Basic speakers would disagree with that. Dooku supposed this was due to the difference in mother tongue. The Mandalorian language lacks both an F and an X symbol. To Jango's ear, he was probably saying 'Vhoks.'
"As I was saying," Jango pulled up a map on his datapad, with a path marked in a dotted line. "If we head to the level twenty entrance, as Yoda suggested, you'd likely have trouble with internal security measures. I'd suggest we go down farther. The outer wall here has caved some, and a minor explosion may be able to make a big enough hole. Don't worry about structural stability, this wall isn't load bearing. The towers here and here carry most of the load for the upper floors."
"Hmm, this is not the first time you have thought of this." Dooku interpreted.
Jango looked back and forth for an unknown party. "It isn't. Let's just say, I used to take jobs from the highest bidder and your temple is not nearly as secure as you probably think it is."
"Hmm," Dooku hummed. He'd take it more seriously, but then the Temple was not his home anymore. "It sounds like we have a plan, then. I'll make sure the younglings are all in your protective gear." Dooku nodded respectfully. As he was pulling away, Jango grasped his Forearm. It took Dooku a moment to realize what the mandalorian was doing. When he did, he gripped Jango's arm back, and pulled. They were comrades now, the handshake was evidence of that.
"We're going to use a Turbolift west of here. I plan to get off a couple of stops before its bottom, and travel a ways to another lift, which we'll take farther down. From there it will be getting harder to breathe. Are you sure you two don't want to wear a suit?" Jango asked.
"Fine we will be." Yoda responded.
"The Force helps us to tolerate extreme environments, but in order to read signals the Force sends us, we have to have that connection with it. I do have a small rebreather mask, should I need it," Dooku explained.
"Master…" one of the younglings named Tol started to finger the clasps on his helmet.
Dooku gave the young man a firm eye. "No! We already discussed this. You're too young. You will all keep the masks on, do you hear me?"
"Yes, Master…" The group of younglings all chorused, and Dooku looked for a moment proud of himself. Jango could understand it. It was hard work getting younglings to listen to you.
"Haatyc or'arue jate'shya ori'sol aru'ike nuhaatyc. Better one big enemy that you can see than many small ones you can't. It's an old saying. Unfortunately where we are going to get to the first, there will be plenty of the later. I do not plan on giving any of you a Verd'goten on this trip. Ret'lini, an ade jorso'ran Buy'ce sha an ca'narase. Just in case, all children should have a helmet on at all times. Can I hear your vows?"
"Haat, Ijaa, Haa'it," Obediently, his younglings spoke up.
"Hat Ee-jah ah eat?" The Jetti tried to repeat. Their eyes showed they did not understand their words. 'Truth, Honor, Vision,' meant they were promising on an old Mandalorian code. Obviously he could not trust the Jetti ade to follow the pact, but he trusted his own ade to report anyone who wasn't. And that was enough for him.
Jango turned and started to lead the way towards that first lift he'd mentioned. He could hear the others following behind him.
Dooku followed Jango's path, down several Turbolifts. The last of which looked so old, it was probably made before Yoda's parents were born. Though it seemed to be constructed to hold some type of cargo. Dooku felt it was well built and would likely last another generation of his Master's species.
As they were climbing through some semi-sentient weeds that seemed to have grown up from below and overtaken the old building they were traipsing through, Dooku almost tripped on a vine. He righted his posture and pulled out the mask to get more oxygen for his brain. Ahead of him the Mandalorians used blasters to shoot down the flowering heads of the plant. Though the air from the mask helped him to breathe, his chest still burned.
Yoda used the force to pull down a piece of wreckage on three at once. Then he turned to look back. From their supplies, a helmet was pulled out with the Force and floated over to him. It was similar to the ones the younglings all wore, but a little larger.
Dooku rolled his eyes. He knew what his Master was suggesting, and while he did not like what it implied, he had to admit it wasn't too far off. Dooku wasn't a youngling anymore, and he should show the same maturity as the younglings, all of which were still wearing the same helmets. He put it on, and as the atmosphere it produced filled with Oxygen, he breathed it in deeply. The room around him stopped shaking, and though he felt the Force dimmed, he was finally able to stand upright. The burning in his chest was quelled to a low ache.
"I still don't understand how a buy'ce can be a source of shame. I've been wearing one all my life." Jango rounded back to them. "My Ade almost have the path cleared. Then we'll be able to leave this structure and go on to the next."
"Thanks," Dooku said. "Qui would be ashamed we didn't take a sample back to him at the Temple."
"A sample? Of the Osik weed?"
Dooku laughed at that. "Qui-Gon always loved plants. He used to bring samples back to the Temple with him after our missions."
"That, he still does." Yoda hummed. "More harm than most, this one would do."
"Yeah, this one releases O3 and I'm afraid it was the ozone that was burning your lungs."
"Ozone, that makes sense now." Dooku kicked a part of the plant aside. "Still, I think it's best that we agree, and no one tells Qui-Gon it's down here."
"Gar ranov'la morut'yc ti ni. Haat." Jango promised. 'Your secret's safe with me. Truth.'
"Let's see how these weeds stand up to a bit of heat." Dooku lit his red saber with a suspicious glint in his eyes. Then he went to swipe away the vines at his feet.
They'd gotten through the weed covered building, and past a herd of ferocious animals, the alpha of which Jango had to wrestle with his brawn muscles and hard armor shell. He walked away with a trophy, a piece of its shell, which he was going to be asking a Goran about using it on a shield. In the next building they found themselves having to dodge worms which spat out acidic goo at them, and droids with laser beams meant to kill said worms. The acid was damaging the structure of the building, doubtless it's why the upper floors sent down the droids to begin with, but Jango didn't want to stay there longer than they had to.
Eventually they got to the wall Jango had intended to use to enter the Temple from. He opened a secure case that he wasn't letting his ade carry, and pulled out tightly wrapped sacks of explosive powder, that when lit, would create a Tracyn Besbe'trayc.
"Carry it to the wall, I will." Yoda volunteered.
Jango shook his head. "No, it's too unstable to pass around. Stay back here, while I do this." Jango stepped up to the wall and placed the bomb into a crevice that already existed. One which time had worn away at the building to produce. He turned around and ran for a fallen stone wall for shelter, while the world shook and his ears would've popped if not for his armor.
Hello Readers,
As I mentioned in my last chapter notes, Fanfiction dot com has been having some issues lately. In January they again got their bug with the Stats fixed. Recently they've had an issue where updates were not sending emails out, so if you could peek back and make sure you've read the last couple chapters, it might be a good idea.
I struggled with this chapter, and I hope I got it into a nice story format for you in the end. Mandalorian was difficult. I used an internet translator for most of it, and dictionaries for the rest. The language seems to lack a word for Bomb. The closest I could find was missile, so I used "Fire Weapon" instead. That's Tracyn Besbe'trayc in the third to the last paragraph.
Fortunately, I think I've figured out how I want this to end. I had to pick and choose which character I wanted to make the final sacrifice, and how I wanted stuff to go down. Now that I've made those decisions I hope I will be able to write this easier for the next part. This will be the last story arch and after that I plan on a long epilogue as I intend to explain a lot of what happens later. But I tend to be wordy, so there's no guarantee on it staying in one chapter.