"What's the problem?"
"I'm pretty sure this is hell," she gasped up at him. "I can't take another step."
He made a fist and clunked her cuirass plate so hard she was pretty sure he rattled her collar bone.
"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. This is hell? Okay. I'll buy that. So why the fek would you stop in hell. You keep going."
"What?"
He shook his head at her.
"Don't stop there. Who the kriff decides to set up shop in hell? Move it! You rest when you come out the other side of it. You don't stay to dance with the demons who are chasing you. You can't run anymore? That's fine. You stand tall, brace yourself, and make them part for you. And when you've got your breath back, you walk through hell like you're the devil himself—like you own the fekking skies where angels fell to darkness."
"You're terrifying. I'm pretty sure you're not afraid of anything. Your troops are right—you are the nightmares."
He laughed.
She shook her head and backed away from him when he offered his hand to help her up.
"I'm not going with you. You're crazy and you're going to get me killed along with you."
"Very real possibility. Maybe they'll write a song about me."
"My da said not to end up in a song. That it's not all it's cracked up to be."
"Good advice, that. Blood isn't glorious when you're mucking through it. It's just hot and thick and damp. Cold when it turns dark. Sticky. Somebody else turns it into poetry. In the meantime we're on to drilling for the next war."
"Does it bother you that our culture is basically just bloodletting-for-hire?"
He shook his head. Took off his helmet so she would, too. So she would look into her eyes.
"What's the worst part of dying?"
"I don't know. I imagine it hurts pretty bad."
"I beat the hell out of you until neither one of us could stand up straight. That didn't hurt?"
"It did."
"And the next time, the time after that, this last time, did it still hurt or did you get used to it?"
"Nobody gets used to it, Sergeant Vau. You couldn't possibly. I don't care what happens or how many times you win or how long it takes to recover. It hurts."
"So what's to lose?"
She frowned up at his twinkling eyes. They were gold. She thought they looked like treasure beneath ocean waves.
"The pain tells you that you still have some fight left in you, Ad'ra. I've been there when it stopped hurting. It's empty and hollow and terrible. You can't open your eyes, can't get up, and the way it suddenly doesn't hurt anymore? The way you can't feel the lashes or the fists or the feet?" He shook his head slowly. "There's nothing more terrifying than that feeling. The pain is better."
He held his hand out to her again.
She ignored it, but she got up. Huffed out a long breath.
"What was the last thing you ate?"
"I don't know."
He reached into the long, slim pocket that hung behind his blade. Pulled out a package of long pre-proportioned sticks of chewy meat strips.
"What is this?" she asked, sniffing in distaste.
It smelled gamey and slightly spicy. A lot salty.
"Take one. Just take small bites."
She slid one out. Looked a little unconvinced.
He took one for himself, tucked his helmet under his arm, and bit off a hunk.
Hopped up out of the ditch and stood straight up. Pointed up ahead. Called out where he saw a sniper nesting for the commandos taking part in the mock-assault.
Beckoned her to join him. Pointed at the incoming simulated fire. Demanded she tell him what artillery piece it would be coming from and what the range of the ordnance was.
She gaped at him as he sauntered off like they were dressing troops in formation.
He gestured with his chin up ahead. Told her where he'd have placed the troops if it had been up to him. Showed her where the mistakes were being made and what would correct them, then reversed positions, hunkered behind her shoulders and made her tell him what countermeasure would defeat the assaulting troops.
She had fully regained her equilibrium by the time they made it past.
Ad'ra grinned up at him. Stuffed the rest of the jerky in her mouth and tugged her helmet on.
He tugged his on, too, and pretended to rest his elbow on her head.
"Stop! I hate you!"
"I can tell. You're welcome."
"Thank you," she said seriously.
"I get that what your troops do is different, but they still need to be able to cut and run. To bug out if necessary. So sometimes it means the extra mile."
"Mine won't be able to carry as much weight."
"I get that too. So we'll work on some stuff. Change some stuff up. Make sure they can get what they need where they need it. Just in case."
"What would you have done if somebody had landed a shot to your head while we were walking through there just now?"
"If I made it I'd be pissed as hell. If I didn't?" He tipped his head to the side. "Not my problem anymore, is it?"
"You are a psychopath."
"Possibility. If you have the breath to complain about it you have the breath to take the next step."
She hugged him hard before dashing off to rejoin her troops in the false-advances being staged.
.
.
"What the hell were you showing Ad'ra this afternoon—right in the middle of the exercise—like you fekking own the parade ground?" Fett hissed at him when he rejoined the rest of the staff in their mess later.
Vau's brows winged up, his face completely passive. He actually went so far as to glance down the table as if Fett were addressing someone else.
"You, chakaar. Real comedian tonight, aren't you?"
He kicked the side of Vau's ankle.
Which hurt like osik since one of his guys had broken it and then Ad'ra, working the weakness against him, had pounded it with her fist when he had her in a head lock the night before.
He'd nearly pounded her face into the tarmac before he caught himself reacting to the white-hot pain and dug past it.
Most of the instructors in attendance were watching them now.
"Kick me again, pup," Vau challenged.
"Nobody's indispensable," their leader shot back. "You work for me. Remember?"
"Then perhaps you should let me do the kriffing job for which you're paying me. She needs to be apprenticed. Her education stopped short when Liam Rottske took that hit and instead of making sure she knew what she was doing you set her loose on the SO sniper group."
"She's as good a sniper as you are."
"And a far less effective training sergeant. Even less qualified to lead men as your Marshal. So I take the opportunities that present themselves to fill in the gaps in her knowledge."
"That's not your job."
"You have complaints about the way I'm fulfilling my duties? Put a review board on my schedule and we'll discuss it."
He turned back to his meal.
Shot to his feet when Fett slapped the plate down the table.
"We'll discuss it now."
"Fine. You're letting your friend down, Fett. If I had a man who boasted himself my best friend, who swore fealty and affection both, and his daughter were left on her own I'd not let her flounder through the paths you've laid before Ad'ra. You're a fool not to polish that jewel—and, like it or not, grit is what's going to get the job done. With the commando units, with any apprentice, and certainly with a headstrong, over-confident teenager."
Fett's sneer was ugly.
"Don't lecture me about Liam. You barely knew him. You don't know anything about him."
"I know he took a child to the field so young that even the Mand'Alor you replaced thought it indecent. And I know he bloodied her hands so young that she doesn't even remember her first kill. I note that you don't take Boba on half your missions. Too risky to endanger your own child, so the way you honor your friend is to-"
Fett picked up a chair and hit him.
Vau had a good foot and a half on him—it wasn't an unwise move.
"Go to hell, Walon," Fett growled. "You know nothing. Your job is to train a company of commando units. If you want to teach them to stick their necks out unreasonably you'll end up emptying your roster and I can get you off my payroll."
The taller man dabbed at the blood welling from his lip with the back of his hand. Picked himself up out of the floor. Shook his head as he squared off.
"I think it far more likely that I'll be the one with the full complement still standing at the end of this."
"Being supported by bacta tanks doesn't count as standing."
"They'll stand straighter for it when they get out."
"If you get Liam's daughter wasted by strolling her through a live-fire exercise chewing on ruik root I'll carve you out of that tin can and find out once and for all whether there's a heart beating in your chest."
Vau turned, jerked his plate back in front of him. Made a show of scooping another portion of tiingilar onto it.
"It was talyc paak loras," he called as Fett turned on his heel and stalked out.
Jaig just lifted his brows at him as he shoved past. Observed the way the silent tables were staring at the scowling man using his fork to break apart the food on his plate.
"I take it your midday stroll irritated the maestro?"
"He's officer material for damned sure," Vau hissed.
Jaig laughed. Threw his head back and laughed.
The younger man had been known to warn his tyros about the uselessness of officers and the likelihood that the higher rank a man carried made him proportionally more likely to be an asshole who'd get you killed.
"The adenn is as well," Jaig said softly.
"Not if I can help it. She's too good to go down that path."
"She's down in medbay. Gil had to put a chest tube in her."
"Shab."
"There's a fracture just above the patella, too. It's going to take some time to heal."
"I hear you."
"Good. Give him grief about Liam Rottske again and I'll take out both of your kneecaps. Some lines you don't cross, Walon. I don't care if you think you are the blackest demon to ever escape hell."
.
Ad'ra looked up when the curtain moved.
She'd expected anyone except Walon Vau.
"Sarge," she greeted with a tight smile.
"Your chest hurt like that all day today?"
"I'm not sure if it feels better or worse. I'm draining a lot of fluid, though."
He glanced where she indicated the negative-gravity vac that was sucking blood and fluid from her pleural spaces.
"You could have just said that you couldn't do the exercise. A legitimate injury is-"
"What do you tell your troops? That they won't be fighting in sterile environments after a full night's sleep on a soft pillow and three square meals?"
"Situation is a little different." He held out the meal he'd brought her.
She eagerly flipped the plate he'd used to cover it.
Grinned at him. "I'll get fat in here. Jango brought me dinner, too. Dr. Gilamar ordered me soup."
Her nose wrinkled in distaste.
"Are you not allowed solid food?"
He watched her take the first bite. It was good. Rich and creamy and with just enough variety in the peppers to add some heat without overwhelming the flavors.
"Nobody said anything and I survived my first dinner. Wanna see?"
She lifted her arm. Pressed her lips together.
"Don't stretch. You don't want it to get dislodged."
She nodded.
"It's stitched in place."
"If you'd told me you couldn't breathe I wouldn't have made you run this afternoon."
"It didn't hurt anything. The fluid would have still been building up anyway. I asked."
That made him laugh.
"Perhaps say something before there's fluid filling your lungs. And a cracked bone in your knee."
"But how do you know? I mean… everything hurts. Most days, everything hurts. Do you hurt like this?"
"Like you would not believe."
"How do you figure out if it's important or not?"
He shook his head. "I don't know. I'm lousy at that side of things. Every x-ray I have done looks like it was taken during an earthquake because of all the bones I didn't get healed properly. It's not to be recommended."
"Jango was upset."
"He found me."
"He said it was disruptive, the way we were on the field."
"It was. And do you know how daunting it is to your enemy that you don't cower back, don't come at them in a mad rush? Self-control can be a mighty weapon."
She nodded. Handed him the plate back.
"I'm full," she pouted.
He accepted it, tossed it over to the small table.
"Can I bring you anything?"
"A toothbrush," she told him. "And my gauntlet. Jango stole it."
"How 'bout I bring you a book instead? Your boss wouldn't thank me for stealing it back from him."
"I like fiction," she told him. "I read everything, but I'd rather read fiction while I'm miserable."
"I hate that you are. Forgive me?"
"Yeah, of course. Part of it, right? Missing night swims is probably building character, isn't that what Jaig would tell me? That it's good for the soul to taste disappointment?"
"I suppose so."
"I tried to tell them that the water would make me feel weightless."
"The sixty-kilo packs do not," Vau argued.
She sighed, jerked a little, winced and eased herself a little lower on the pillow.
Mird yeowled piteously. Made his way to the opposite side of the bed and hopped up.
"It's a little freaky that they don't wear clothes in bacta," Ad'ra announced out of the blue as she ran her fingers over the strill's spine.
Vau glanced over his shoulder. The girl had a light curtain that surrounded her bed, but the tall cylinders were visible beyond.
"It's the lights in them that bothers me," he confessed, his lip curled slightly in distaste. He blinked thoughtfully at the bacta tanks. "They could be anybody, suspended there. You can't tell who is which."
She made a face. "I don't know any of the ones in here."
"I have a couple keeping the good doctor honest," he confessed. Wheeled around on the low stool. Considered. "It's odd, seeing them floating there and knowing who they are but them distorted by the glass, the bacta. Sedated, their faces don't look like the faces of the lads I know."
"There's a simple solution to that," she said disapprovingly.
He grinned at her. It was not a reassuring grin and his face was ill-suited for the put-on mirth.
It was uglier than the sarcasm and superiority he normally exuded.
"I don't want to end up in bacta, okay?" she asked him. "I don't want to just be on exhibit like some freak specimen in suspension. Especially not without anything on."
He nodded. "I can understand that. I'll be more careful with you. Make sure your wishes are honored even if it kills me."
"Jango told me a long, long time ago that you and Jaig should be the foundation of my marev should he go down. But I'm worried about him."
"Fett?"
"Jaig."
Vau tucked his lips to the side. Nodded.
He wheeled the stool around again. Leaned back against the wall.
Mird stretched over Ad'ra's lap so he could rub the ugly head. He half-smiled at the beast.
"Jaig's not getting any younger. It sucks... this side of life. Your friends start to look old."
"You're not old. You're like half his age."
"It's surprising how quickly your half turns into this half. Then the stage where he is. I don't think he's in danger of tipping into the grave yet, Ad'ika. He was pretty hale a little while ago when he called me out for giving Fett a hard time."
"Why did you give him a hard time?"
"He questioned my motives and my methods. While I was eating in the mess. Which pissed me off, especially since the tiingilar was actually very good."
"I worry about who should replace him if Boba needs us when he takes over as Mand'Alor. Every time Jango goes out by himself I worry it's the last time I'll see him. And all of a sudden he's working with Zam more and more again. Leaving me here."
"They must have a job under play."
"You worked with my da before, didn't you? And Jaig for a long time. And Jango?"
"Yes to all three. I didn't know your father as well, but Jaig was inordinately fond of him. We both served under Jaster Mereel together a time or two. Your father was ill-suited for it. I find my own strengths more suited toward the training or small-group jobs. The ramikadyc seems to skip me by and mass warfare makes me cold."
"My father was a good warrior."
"Your father was a good special ops man. Excellent at infiltration and sniper missions. Less keen to be in on a live take-down. He was a decent Marshal of the Troops. Better at the back-camp and planning parts than the boots-in-blood moments. And I believe he'd've needed to have a genuine grievance with a being to be able to torture information out of them."
She tucked her lips in. "Jaig offered to teach mine counter-torture methods."
"Let him, Ad'ra."
She looked up at him with big eyes.
"Dammit," he spat. Looked away. Shook his head.
"Will you?"
"Yes. Because he's good at it and I'm good at it. And we use different techniques, yes… he'll take some time to work on mine and I'll do the same for his. For Vhonte's, too."
"She doesn't?"
He shook his head. "She's never conducted a prolonged interrogation. Doesn't know any more about it than what she's seen on holovids or heard us talking about."
"I studied some things. It's why I've had mine practicing the different deprivations for so long. To help build them up to it."
He just studied her face. "There's a big difference. My boys think I'm sadistic. There was no warm blanket and cup of shiig when I let them go after R2I sessions. And there's a fine line between hardening them so they can withstand a real enemy and breaking them. You're what? Fifteen? Let us take this one."
"What about me?"
"What about you? I'm sure Jaig would let you observe. On holo, Ad'ra. Not in person. It would be demeaning for your boys to know you were in there just watching them if they embarrass themselves. And worse if you make some sympathetic noise or try to call halt."
"No. I mean would you and Jaig work on me? I need SERE-"
He was already shaking his head.
"I already employ as many torture tactics on you as I can live with. I won't go whole-hog and Jaig wouldn't be able to, either."
"Then-"
"No. Drop it. Let it go. Most apprentices learn on the job. Just… stick with what I throw at you now. Please."
She nodded warily. "I didn't mean to upset you."
His voice never seemed to change, but she knew that she'd pushed his buttons just as surely as he was able to instantly get her back up.
He was good at it. A big fan of the pride-and-ego down method.
Well, it was what Fett was paying him for…
.
.o0o.
.
Ad'ra's little face crumpled as she stood in front of Jaig and Fett.
"Castilla is saying that she can bang a clone a day and then she can brag that she's slept with Jango every day for the last eight years."
She blinked hard, pressed her lips together.
"Honey bunch," the man cooed. "Castilla Reau is a pain in the ass, but she's not going to-"
"Plus she says that if she does two at once it'll be like having Jango and Boba at the same time."
Jaig nodded.
"Might be time to kill her," he decided.
Fett was already on his way around the desk.
He bent to kiss the part in Ad'ra's hair.
"I'm going to take care of it."
"Mine can't deal with her right yet," she told him. "They're not big enough and they're not emotionally mature enough."
"I said I-"
"I'm not sending them back over there and I'm giving shoot-to-kill orders if she comes in our wing."
"No," Fett said. "You're not. They don't have to go to her for instruction, fine. But-"
"I'd like to challenge her to that bloody fight circle."
"You will not," Fett ordered. He pulled her chin up and tapped the beskar throat-ridge she wore. "Do you understand the difference between me and Mand'Alor? As my adenn I am giving you this order: you are not to challenge Dred Priest nor Isabet or Castilla Reau to any sort of duel. Nor will you provoke them into attacking so you can claim to be defending yourself. Is… That… Clear…?"
"Perfectly."
He saw the fire in her eyes.
.
"That's a kriffing timed implosion," Jaig warned as they swept down the hall.
"Get Tiethe' and Kilo and meet me over there," was Fett's only answer.
"Vau and H.G.?"
He hesitated. "Not yet."
"He's loyal to you," Jaig remanded gently.
"To me, or the office?"
"They're one and the same to him."
"Let's see if we can make an impression without putting him in the middle of it first," Fett decided.
"Why?"
"Because we're talking about a man he willingly works with—trusts his life to—and his adenn, who if you haven't noticed, idolizes the ground he walks on. I'd rather not muddy the waters here any further."
"Walon Vau is as protective of Ad'ra as any of us. He's not sleeping with Castella and if he knew she'd upset Ad'ra…"
"That woman made Liam's baby girl cry," Fett snapped. He gestured with his hand. "Do you not think I'm close enough to tossing her over a railing? The last thing I need is Walon kriffing Vau finding out she's harassing Ad'ra and teaching her a new lesson in how to torture a captive! Go get Jonashe Kilo and Kiere Tiethe' unless you can think of two bigger sons of bitches who haven't ever pulled ops with Priest and who won't start gunning for Reau just for fekking with Ad'ra!"
The man who had offered his hand to adopt him when Jaster Mereel died just sucked in a deep breath and pivoted, obedient to his Mand'alor's commands. Poor little Ad'ika, he thought as he jogged down the endless identical hallways.
.
.o0o.
.
The next morning she was beskared and professional at the morning meeting over breakfast.
"Any concerns or new business that needs to be discussed?" Fett asked.
He'd already folded his datapad in on itself. That alone should have been the hint that he was done, even if they'd wanted to further the discussion.
"Um. I noticed something and I don't know if it's just my guys or if it's something your guys did, too…" Ad'ra ventured. When he made a go-ahead motion she licked her lips. Pulled the inside of the bottom one between her teeth. "I know most of you grew up around men, so maybe it's just a thing. But I thought all of mine were supposed to be the same, you know? As they develop."
Fett stared at her, regulating his breathing even as blood rushed to his face, his ears.
"Um. Okay. No, I haven't spent a whole lot of time staring at them. Comparing. I guess. If you saw a lad when he was… um…"
"Oh, for fek's sake," Jaig interrupted. "Ad'ra, I would assume there might be some slight differences. We're seeing them in their faces. Certainly there might be some dissimilarities in their genitals as well. But it's more likely, if it was a significant size difference, that he was excited about something. Erect or semi-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Ad'ra objected. "Just stop. I know what an erection is."
She gave an exaggerated shudder. Held out her hand.
"Annnnd… I'm going to need any of you hand over one of your blasters so I can kill myself now. I'm not going to be able to look at any of you ever again. To say nothing of my guys."
Gilamar chuckled. Jaig reached for her hand and shook her wrist.
"Sorry, little Ad'ika. We're a bunch of old men and you panicked us."
The physician waved the man down. Smiled kindly at the girl. "What is it that you really meant?"
"Just… I expected all of them to develop on par. Mine are all over the place and not following the same exact patterns. Their voices and all… the voice thing is what I notice most. Although, yes, some of them smell soooo bad now. Like, the more hair some of them get, the worse it is," she complained.
"There are some slight disparities to how the first couple of batches achieved puberty. Not every single lad hit the same benchmarks at exactly the same time, despite being decanted simultaneously."
Fett watched Vau lean over toward Dred. The men chuckled darkly over whatever Priest murmured.
That was an odd-man pairing of the worst kind. They made a formidable looking pair, too, Walon in head-to-toe ne'tra for Justice and Priest in the red and black honor/justice combo. When Isabet and Castella joined them later in the hallway they looked like a set. Issy's dark grey was nearly as dark as Walon's matte black and the dark yellow pieces were intricately outlined in red and purple. The other Reau woman's was a massacre of swathes of red, pink, and purple in every hue over the darker base color.
Fett watched Vau lean down to hear whatever the insane pair whispered to him.
Leaned his head back and roared with laughter. "That would be an eye-opener!"
Fett nodded Ad'ra in the opposite direction, her instructions already relayed and her day too full to linger for long. His own path took him toward where Walon Vau fiddled with something inside his buy'ce.
"Your neks need to be kept entertained better," he was heard saying to the shorter man. "Perhaps tighter collars and stronger leashes. Some of Asirel's godliness, I believe."
That didn't seem to suit the cheerful ambiance of the gathering. There was definite coldness in Cassie's eyes as the man winked at her before strapping his bucket in place.
"Making friends I suppose?" Fett hissed when Vau's long legs caught up with him.
"I don't know what he sees in them. I understand the whole let's-take-over-the-world thing. Although I'd like to just see Mandalore ruling Mandalore. But it's hard to justify when we're pulling ore from Concordia, too, and they want their own government. Can't blame them for wanting what we want, right?"
Fett frowned. "I believe the moon provinces should remain under Mandalorian rule."
"So long at there's beskar in those thar' hills, then?"
He was regarded with Fett's cool, dark eyes.
"Don't needle Asirel. He's good at what he does."
"He is, indeed."
"What did you do to piss off Castella?"
"I turn her down on a regular basis."
Fett's shock needed no oration.
Vau snorted. "You think I'm so hard up I'd go over to the dark side?"
"A lot of your principles seem concurrent with theirs."
"Hard men make hard warriors. That's as far as our methods run parallel. And no power on earth could make that woman appeal to me. She's psychotic."
"Why does she want you?"
"I assume the bank vault on Aargau. Or my warm, sparkling personality."
He snapped his fingers at the meandering strill when the creature ventured toward an offshoot of the corridor behind a trio of young Kaminoans.
"Well, even reptiles manage to reproduce," Fett hummed in faux-disinterest.
Vau pretended to bend over and retch.
"I pity any human child who has to take form in that womb."
"Dread won't breed on Issy, either. Apparently she's been needling him about it."
"I warned that those biological clocks would start ticking. I appreciate the exposure to differing forms—so the units aren't shell-shocked by the appearance of females out there in the world—but those two are going to be trouble."
"Just those two?"
"Just those two. If I were you I'd arrange for a little playdate. See if your girlfriend can jerk them back into line. Failing that, arrange an accident."
Vau must have put a clone or two in bacta already that day to be in such a good mood.
"Ad'ra's not my girlfriend," Fett said with a sigh. "She's a babe still."
Vau jerked as though struck. "I meant Zam."
Now it was up to Fett to exhibit surprise again.
"Zam and I are just friends. Jesu. Is that the gossip?"
"It's been noted that you're often off-world together."
"If I wanted to fuck her I could do so in the comfort of my bed here."
He couldn't help the shiver that ran over him. The noise of distress he made was wholly authentic, to the audible amusement of the other man.
"I'll let Dred know," he promised through his mirth. "Maybe he'll invite you to party with them. Solve that mystery before it has time to become entrenched in our collective history."
"What mystery?"
"Some things got amped up and others recessed to make the lads? So if the girls wanted to brag that they'd slept with the boss are they getting the genuine article or an enhanced version?"
Fett stopped dead in his tracks.
"That's what you and Dred were giggling about like schoolgirls?"
"Your adenn is the one who brought it up."
"That was a misunderstanding." Fett could feel himself blushing again. "I'd thank you not to needle Ad'ra about it, either. Poor little thing."
"I have no intention of discussing sex or appendages with a twelve-year-old," Vau promised. He slapped the other man's arm with the back of his hand as he made to take a corner. Walked backwards for a few paces. "Good luck with the comparison study."
"What comparison study?"
"Please," Vau tossed back. "Now you're wondering and you're going to have to find out."
"I'm pretty secure in my manhood, Walon," he hissed.
The other man's laugh grated.
He stalked off to set his own trainees to a new and daunting task. Apparently Cassie hadn't heeded the warning he'd issued if she was comfortable following that line of teasing with Dred and Vau.
.
He asked Ad'ra to join him that evening. Sat her down intending to go over the parental guide to puberty he'd downloaded.
"I'm not sitting here reading this with you," Ad'ra swore, shifting away from him.
"Um. This is new territory for all of us."
She held up her hands. "My question was whether all of your guys went through vocal changes and the like at the same time or if some of them hit those milestones sooner, or later, than the bulk of them. Now I have to worry about them rubbing on themselves when I check on them or go in the 'freshers or whatever."
She was backing away from him.
"You shouldn't be going into their 'freshers, Ad'ra."
"Yeah. That's over. Thanks to you and Jaig and Sgt. Priest I can't even look them in the eye without thinking about what's in their pants."
"Just wait until you get tits. They'll return the favor."
She lifted her middle fingers.
"How did our entire planet decide to give you the ruling of us?" she huffed.
"It just kind of landed in my lap," he told her.
She made a face.
He laughed. "Not everything is a sex joke, Ad'ika. Most things can be made into one, and there's plenty of crudity in an army's ranks, but I rarely go there."
"You're more mature, I think, than a lot of the men here. Not in years. In the way you look at things."
"A lot of the men here didn't grow up as I did. Then being adopted by the Mand'Alor? Once you realize what we do? It's a life-sentence, Ad. It sobers you some. You know you won't be burying the man you call buir of old age. Realize you probably won't need a retirement plan yourself."
"Then you lost my da, too, right after you lost Jaster."
He nodded. There'd been several years between their deaths, but she was right.
"I'll take care of Boba," she promised.
"I trust that you will."
"And this part?" Her little face was furious. "I think I'll handle this part with him. Thank gods you didn't have a little girl! Your poor daughter!"
She was shaking her head as she turned. Left him sitting there wondering if he should have claimed her as daughter.
"Ad'ra?" she glanced over her shoulder. "You know I would have adopted you when he died, right? You know why I didn't?"
She nodded. She'd understood just a little—two hereditary titles and the upheaval of combining the lines. She'd absorbed that much in her grief.
"If you ever change your mind I'll say those words faster than any man ever claimed a child."
She beamed at him.
Ran back over and tugged his hand so that it laid on her head before taking her knee before him.
"Your confidence in me is enough, Jango. I adore you, but I'd rather stay my father's child, your adenn. Mand'Alor."
"Adenn," he hummed. Tapped the back of her neck in dismissal. Held her hand as she rose. "You are, absolutely and without question, your father's child. So like him that sometimes I feel fifteen years old again and have to remind myself that one of us should be the adult here."
She whacked his flank with open palm and grinned.
"Sucks to be you!"
Away she jogged, leaving him to smile after her.
.
.o0o.
.
"I'm dealing," Ad'ra called as she skipped in.
"We're not playing sabaac."
Her face fell. "Why not?"
"Because Asirel wanted to play pazaak…" Fett's hand swept out to indicate the table that had been pulled to its full length to accommodate the group that had been invited.
"But I don't know how to play," she pouted.
"You weren't invited."
Now she scowled at him.
Vau chuckled.
"Come here," H.G. volunteered. "We'll teach you real quick before everybody gets here. The goal is to make 20. Or close to it without going over. You get a side deck and hold four cards in your hands at all times. You can draw and then you lay one down or pass. But once you put it down, there's no picking it back up."
"Which sucks," Vau swore.
H.G. ignored his interruption. "The game is designed so that as many people can play as want, but it gets crowded fast. There's a base deck and people who play a lot have supplemental decks. You add extra sets the more you have. This one is mine, Azz is bringing his, and Jaig will probably bring his."
"You play this a lot? Are you good at it?"
She glanced over at the other man. He shrugged. "I like keeping my options open. I figure that I'll be at something of a disadvantage. Walon and I play each other often enough that he knows my tells, I know his. Same with Jaig and Rav. I know they play a lot."
She made a frown. Huffed out a little breath.
Slid away from him and went to stand beside Jango, reaching to help him slice fruit.
"I can do it neatly. I know how."
Vau glanced over at H.G., a question in his eyes. The other man shrugged, made a face.
"Are Jaig and Rav both coming?" they heard her ask the other man.
"I believe so," he said quietly.
She tucked her hand in his elbow and he bent, kissed the top of her head.
"She's not mad at you anymore, ad'ika." He snapped his fingers. "Skotah iisa. Cui ogr'olar."
She shook her head. Carefully sliced around the outside of the fruit so that it slid from its peel onto the cutting board. Took up the knife to slice it into rounds.
"Is it weird, knowing that they're together and when they leave… they'll leave together?" She gulped.
He put down his own knife. Looked down at her miserable face. "Why would it be weird?"
She spread the halved fruit rounds into a pretty array. Moved on to a different color. Slit the skin and plopped it out.
"It's just so weird thinking of our Jaig'ba'buir like he's one of the men in her books."
Fett had been biting back his laugh and now it broke free. Boba came running in from the other room.
"Here," he handed a loaded plate to his son. "Put this on the sideboard."
He took Ad'ra's shoulders. "Things aren't like that between a man and woman in real life. They're discreet because they're able to separate the job from the personal. That's good on them. Honey, Ad'ika, I know you think it's weird. That adults around you are having sex."
"I know people are having sex!" she said a little louder than she probably meant to.
She jerked away from him and ran out, circling wide around the table.
H.G. offered Boba another cracker. Helped him match up a tile.
"Trouble in paradise, I take it?"
"Oh, get fekked," Fett threw out. "Do I go after her or do I let it go?"
Neither of the men had an answer.
"You do understand that both of us are bachelors for a reason?" Vau offered. Tipped over a whole pile of tiles, ran his hands over them to mix them up.
"I think she'll get over it, right?"
"She's here to do a job, same as everyone else," Vau offered. "Personally, I'd prefer to see her so disgusted by sex that she steers clear for a good long while."
"It won't be long before she goes from trying to figure out what the hell they're doing in those damned cheap, cheesy romances to trying her hand at it."
"It would be like catching your parents in the act," H.G. offered. He faked a shudder. "I can't imagine walking in on Rav going down on Jaig. And I'm well aware what happens behind closed doors here."
Vau gaped. "Is that what happened?"
"Apparently," Fett admitted.
"Jesu. Poor kid."
Vau let Boba climb on his knee so he could feed Mird a cracker.
"No more people food, okay?" he told the kid.
Fett hauled Boba up when the door slid open and the others came in as a group.
"We were just discussing you two," H.G. teased. "Your little exhibitionism."
Asirel shuddered.
H.G. wasn't done. "Now I'm going to have to make sure I'm stomping and slamming louder than Jaig can sob for his gods to save him when I leave the range."
Rav blushed but let out that big, booming bray of hers.
"I want to know when that video goes live," Vau snorted.
"The way I heard it, he was practically sobbing," H.G. teased.
"I didn't know men could make that noise and live. You're lucky I didn't call for a medic," the rangemaster and armorer claimed. "That poor child."
"Must have one hell of a mouth," Vau winked at Rav. "Let me know if the old man isn't enough for you. I'll volunteer my services."
"Wait. What poor child?" Rav asked.
"Me," Jaig claimed. "Just sitting there, minding my own business, logging what my guys were taking out—and all of a sudden I'm getting held down and raped in the besbe office."
"I believe he meant Ad'ra," Fett chuckled.
Both faces fell. "What?"
H.G. snickered. "Apparently she doesn't have a hard time imagining most of the men here in the role of hero in those books you lend her. But the idea of her ga'ba'buir getting a stiffy and hitting cunt was too much for her."
Jaig started to rise.
Vau shook his head. "Leave it, I think."
"She saw us, too?"
Az shook his head. "She couldn't possibly have seen much. She's nearly as tall as I am and the only reason I knew what was going on was experience. The way you were angled, nothing pertinent showed. It was more the audio track…"
Rav made a gesture she didn't allow the boys to use in her classes.
"Maybe next time lock the door," Fett suggested.
The woman huffed. "If I'd thought it through enough to lock the door it wouldn't have happened. It was just spur of the moment, no big deal."
"Aww," H.G. snorted at Jaig. Got shoved before he even got the taunt out of his mouth. "No big deal."
Even Az and Vau snickered.
Jaig shook his head. "Don't give her a hard time about it."
"Rav or Ad'ra?"
"Either."
"We're hearing that more and more often," Vau murmured, considering the newly spread tiles. He chose two. Cursed his luck and played one. "Has anyone really thought through what happens when she goes from being horrified to interested?"
"Going to be one lucky clone," Asirel muttered. "Nobody else is in her age bracket."
"There are plenty of choices close enough to practice flirting with," Jaig objected. "Nice young men who should be sufficiently awed by the ones of us watching over her to just keep it above the waist until she's old enough."
"How old is old enough?"
"Like thirty," Jaig said even as Fett's 'Sixty-eight and a half' hissed through his teeth.
"Maybe Az can talk her into taking holy orders."
"I'll keep my eye on her," Rav said.
"Give her some distance first," Fett advised. "Between snatching her up at breakfast and shattering the mental image she had of Jaig as grandfatherly and innocent she's having a bad day."
"Plus the shit yesterday, with Cas sending out that video."
"What video?" Fett asked.
There were glances around the table.
"What video?"
Jaig bounced the child who had abandoned his father to climb on his knee. "Boba. Let's go play in your room for a minute."
"She wasn't on the recipient list," Vau said, already having pulled it up on his 'link. He held it out. "The only reason she'd have seen it was by going through your email."
Asirel leaned over Fett to watch the short motion-capture image. "I had no idea human women would do such things. What is she wearing?"
"Which one?"
"I can't tell them apart without their clothes on," he admitted. Tapped the screen.
H.G. leaned over. "I'm thinking that's Cas."
Fett looked up over his shoulder at the other man. Amusement was not the emotion he was partaking presently.
"Pretty sure Issy is the one in the rope-thing."
"Thank you," Fett noted.
Az shook his head. "Do women really get off on pain like that? And letting him record it?"
"No," Rav murmured. "It's more the turn-on of giving him control. Knowing he's getting off on it. It can be enough."
"Plus, as mentioned previously, they're all a little sick," Vau intoned.
Fett stopped it. Looked at the title.
"This is on you," he hissed as he tossed the comm back to the black-beskared man.
"Not hardly."
"Why is it on Walon?" Rav wanted to know.
The tall man sighed. "Ad had questions about their voices changing. There was an ungentlemanly comment after this morning's staff meeting—not by me," he said pointedly.
"You laughed."
"Yeah. At you. Not at this."
"Why do you still have it?"
"I bank all my messages. You keep your records, I want mine, too."
Azz took the 'link. Enlarged part of the video. Frowned at it.
"Stop that," Vau ordered. Snatched it back. "The last thing we need is a close-up of Dred's-"
"I believe we have a larger issue than Dred's distinguishing features," the quiet man offered. "Jango, there are others in there. Look at the mirror."
"Son of a bitch."
"You figure those are the winners or the losers?" Rav asked.
"Of what?"
"He's running fight circles."
"We don't need this kind of osik," Fett swore.
Vau shrugged. "So long as he's following the guidelines it's not so different from them sparring in any other setting. Don't get kerplussed."
Fett gestured to the comm'link. "You think he's following any set of rules?"
Jaig came out brushing his hands together. "Your kid can't hang with the big dogs when story time hits," he smiled. Read the room and sobered instantly. "What?"
Az reached for Vau's comm'link again.
"Yeah. I saw it. I wasn't on the original list, but it made its rounds. No thanks. Although…" he tipped his head at Rav. "If that was the inspiration I owe him a bottle or two of bubbly."
"It wasn't; it didn't get me hot to see Dred paint his Reau complement white. Check the background, though."
"You really think Ad saw this?" Fett asked.
"Fek," Jaig hissed. "If you don't kill her I will."
"Is it in your deleted file?" Az asked reasonably. "If it is, and if you didn't put it there…"
.
Fett seethed. The party broke up quickly.
"You know where to find us," Jaig promised.
"I need to look at some things. Send me the stream of whoever sent it to you."
"Jango," he chided. "Boys will be boys… they can't send something like this and not expect it to make the rounds."
"I imagine it was her goal."
The other man nodded tightly. Sent the forwarded message.
Fett listed names. Considered.
"Want help?" Vau offered.
"No."
"Okay, then," he tipped his head and took his leave.
Started past the second door to the right. Hesitated.
Knocked.
The indicator on the panel was set to not disturb the resident.
He knocked again.
"Ad'ra. It's Sergeant Vau. Open up."
The strill reversed its course. Scampered toward the door where his master waited for a response.
The sound of the vacuum releasing surprised him. Mird made himself at home, capering through and heading for the slim set of windows.
Ad'ra was sitting cross-legged on her bed, staring out of them.
She accepted the animal into her lap. Buried her face in the gold fur.
"Come here," Vau whispered.
He lowered himself to the foot of the bed.
There was nothing in here to indicate a young woman occupied the space. No girly smells or delicate perfumes of a woman's abode. No dolls or posters or toys. A damned skull with horns and fangs sat on top of the conservator.
She tipped over toward him. Cried into the strill's warmth while he rubbed her arm.
"I am going to assume a couple of things. First, that you're not stupid. Next, that Fett or Gilamar or somebody had a talk with you after the meeting. About the lads and all. Then, that you saw that video and realized full and well what Jaig and Rav were doing in her office."
Her nod made his life easier.
"It's not the same, Ad'ra. People play in different ways. Find satisfaction from different sources. I know Fett tried to explain the difference between 'vids and real life. All I can add to that is this: wait. Don't rush that part. You're going to grow up and you're going to be one hell of a looker and there will be men out there—men here—who look to take up with you. Give yourself time to figure out who you want to be before you let one make love to you. Wait until you're old enough to know the difference between what Fett was talking about and that osik that the Reaus and Dred pollute sex by doing. But, honestly, if that's what tickles your feather, that's fine, too. Eventually. And, little Ad'ika? Forgive Rav for laying hands on your Jaig. They've been friends a long time and both of them are perfectly happy the way things are between them."
"I thought they were just friends," she told him, sitting up. She looked up at him, then away. Swiped at her tears. He pulled open a pouch on the back of his hip and offered her a handkerchief. "I'm so stupid. All this time, I thought they just roomed together because they're friends."
He snickered. "Neither of them wants it to be more than what they have now. I don't know why. I know she was friends with his wife. Do you remember Blue?"
She nodded. Smiled a little. "She made cookies and things. Always with nuts in them. Lots of nuts."
Sometimes she seemed on the cusp of blooming into womanhood. Then the child slipped back out. It was in those dancing eyes.
"Lots of nuts," he agreed. Thumped her on the arm. "Dry it up. Your Mand'Alor may need you to back him up. I imagine there's going to be some serious fallout from that vid she sent out."
"I hate Castella," Ad'ra told him. She sighed. "I'd like her to be standing in the way when we're in transit. I'd have no problems ordering them to march all over her. She's the only reason I want this contract to come to an end."
His face was serious and disgusted. "I wish I knew what Dred has on Fett that makes him put up with those women," he hissed.
"I don't think he does. It was just part of the negotiation." She sat up straighter. "Jango likes him. Kind of. So do you!"
"There's no doubt that he's good at what he does." He shrugged. "I get along with just the man better than the man he is when he's trying to impress Isabet."
She made a hissing face. "Isabet should have eaten Castella in the womb."
"Agreed." He reached over, tugged at the sleeve of her shirt. "Do you not have any clothes that fit?"
"It's comfortable. Do you need it back?"
"Is it mine!?" He snagged the collar. Flipped it back. Rolled his eyes. "What are you doing with my shirt? Are you trying to get me killed?"
"You let me borrow it so I could cook without getting Mird-hair everywhere."
"Yeah. Good job with that." He gestured to the animal preening for her attention.
"If it still had the tag I'd be able to tell Jango I want some of my own."
She turned the bottom hem inside out to show him where he'd cut it out.
"I don't like them against my skin. I'll send you the link. I doubt they come in girl sizes, but you'd probably be able to wear the small and it might come in extra-small."
"I'll return it when I wash it," she promised.
"Keep it. I don't miss it and it probably smells like candy."
"Thank you. It's super soft." She sniffed the collar. "What candy?"
He ducked his head to her hair. "You smell like candy. Or something sweet."
She beamed at him. "I'm not sweet. I'm mandokarla." She hammed a body-builder pose.
"Indeed you are. Comm me if there's an insurrection. Kick Mird out when you tire of him."
"He doesn't bother me. But now I have to wash my sheets. He's not usually allowed on my furniture. He sheds. A lot."
She fixed him with a baleful stare.
He held up his hands. "You're the one who set your scanner to let him in. Think of it as his way of marking you as his nestling."
He slapped her back just like he would have a young man he'd comforted.
Left with no idea she wove dreams and hopes that featured him heavily.