"Well. Ain't that a cetare to the gettse," Wad'e noted.
Enacca growled and Vau cut his eyes over at her.
Dara leaned forward. "Would that be something like kick in the ass?"
"More boot in the balls, but you're catching on," Wad'e told her. "We'll make a Mando of you in no time."
She huffed. "Mando'ad I don't have a hard time with. It's the Irmenuian that I can't find a translation guide for."
Wad'e's brows lowered and he cocked his head at Vau.
Enacca roared with laughter.
"It's Mando'a," Vau hissed in an undertone. Cut his eyes at his friend. "The people are Mando, Mando'ad or Mando'ade. You're speaking—with the lousiest elocution any ever heard—Mando'a."
"In the meantime, we've got a Wookie manning the controls in there."
Enacca's head shot up and Chakkyrr let out a low rumble that had Vau grimacing. Ugly. This is about to get ugly.
Nobody liked a slaver.
Least of all those who had been enslaved. And when you found out some of your own had gone over to the other side?
"I've got it," Vau assured them all shortly and not just a little bitterly.
"How the fek are you going to take out a Wookie?"
"I'm not after taking him out," he had to remind them. He peeked over again. The beast wasn't even one of the little ones. Shabuir had a gear bag spread out. Was deep in the bowels of the computroller console. Fek. They'd need to find another place to copy the data if the gate warden's was down.
He cracked his knuckles and rolled his head on his shoulders. Made to rise fully.
N'Dara jerked him back down. Her blue eyes were fervent behind the goggles she chose.
"You are going to get killed," she warned him.
"Touched," he proclaimed. "Five minutes, Bubblegum. I'll have him singing and you won't even have to wash your jumper this time."
.
Vau grimaced and looked down at the shank that pierced him between plates at his thigh.
"If you think I'm returning that after all this is done you're seriously fooling yourself."
N'Dara watched Vau reach up and grip the far-larger Wookie by the pelt at the back of its head.
"You can open that mouth of yours and talk or I can find who I'm looking for the hard way. But know this: if you screw me I can and will bend you backwards until every single one of your vertebrae pop out your mouth like a Pez dispenser. Then I will personally stand watch over the cage where your body will be cremated until your bandoliers cook off and nothing remains of your traitorous soul for your gods to haul to heaven so you can be condemned to hell. Sing, chakaar."
"Way-liiinnnn."
"What?" he spat, turning partway. His brows rose at the remonstration in her tone. "I'm bleeding, Darrie. I'm bleeding. The cawker tried to drive part of his fricking servo repair kit into my femoral artery. Tell her," he ordered. "That's what you were aiming for, wasn't it?"
He shook the bewildered beast-man at her.
Their companions had had their own suggestions when they saw the big fur-covered hulk manning the controls.
"What have we talked about? Nectar versus Ne'tra gal?"
"You heard that one time and-"
"It doesn't hurt to start out sweet when you know you can hurt them later if you want to. He might have a very good reason for being here. Maybe he's broken in to stage a rescue himself. Or maybe they've got his mother, his mate and his cub and are coercing his cooperation. Or maybe he was adopted as a youngling and doesn't know what's really going on…"
Vau forced the neck backward to such an extreme that she really thought he was going to kill him. "Any of that the case?"
Surprisingly, the idiot guardsman didn't take the opportunity to dig himself out of trouble. Instead he managed to turn his head enough to spit in Dara's face. For which Chakkyr did him the kindness of removing his face before Vau could react to kill him slowly.
N'Dara gaped when Vau groped behind him and pulled a cloth from his back pocket. Offered it to her. When she failed to take it he gestured higher, clearly meaning for her to clean her face.
"Are you kidding me?"
"No. I want your vision clear as a bell so you can cut this stick off at base-layer."
She crouched. Examined the seepage from his abused limb. "You want me to-"
"I'll do it," Wad'e sighed. Took a knee himself and pulled out the saber-sword tucked into the rigid pouch on his hip. He made short work of lessening the length of the embedded tool.
"Where did you get that?"
"One of the younglings who wanted to pursue different career options traded it to me for hooking them up with an orphanage in Tel-Serro."
The reaction was a good, strong hug from both N'Dara, joined quickly by being engulfed by Enaca.
"Hey!" Vau objected. Gestured sarcastically to the doorway. "Bills to pay, payloads to sabotage, people to slot and rotters to rescue."
"One hell of a shopping list, brother," Wad'e chuckled as he pretended to dust off the matte-black beskar'gam. "Udesii. You brought a pro. I'll get you and the little ladies out of here without a single singed hair follicle."
Vau rolled his eyes heavenward. He could really get to hate Tay'haai. He really and truly could.
"I hope that place on your face gets infected and scars you up."
"Walon!"
"What?" he snapped, turning back around.
Her head was cocked so far over her shoulder it looked like her neck was snapped.
"For somebody bitching about an op clock you're sure taking your sweet time getting through that doorway…" she gestured.
He winked at her. She could almost hear it. Heard it for certain in his voice when he spoke, clicking quickly through until he could engage her on a private line.
"Little do the rest of them know why I keep you around, lippy."
"I thought it was the rear-view."
"Close second," he assured her. Seated his repeating rifle to his shoulder and rolled his neck. Moved to flank the door and jerked his head so that she made herself as small a silhouette as possible behind him. "Take it."
.
Two guards.
Two fekking guards. That's all it took to keep these men in line.
Not that they were going anywhere. Old-style stockade. Oversized doors and durasteel racks protruding five-high from every inch of wallspace. This was a system designed to withstand the capriciousness of sub-terranian living, including untrustworthy power supply and resultant tech issues. No, whoever designed this? They knew the havoc the humidity would wreak on electrical components and had planned accordingly.
No chance of the captives overpowering captor during a power surge or brown-out.
"Haar'chak."
"You can say that again."
Walon felt like his eyes were every bit as wide as Wad'e's in that moment.
Grim didn't begin to cover it.
These guys had been in here a long time. Getting them out was going to be problematic.
"We're going to need reinforcements."
"Call Skirata. See if he's got some hands he can lend," Vau glanced over at N'Dara. "Do not wear yourself out. Pace what you give so you've got enough to keep going. Enn, I need you on comms. This just became a bit more involved."
N'Dara reached through the bars near where Chakkyr was working through a series of rusted lock-breakers.
"I've got a better way," Wad'e suggested. He lit the laser sword again. It skidded off and he took a new grip.
"Through," N'Dara suggested.
He gave her a nod. "Through it is."
Vau glanced up. "You boys there might want to try to shift it a little."
He tossed the first of the smaller packs he carried through the bars. Watched them just look at it listlessly.
"Haili cetare!" he told them. "You were a proud army the last time I laid eyes on you. Iviin. Got you the good stuff here. Good, potent jahaal'got haashun. Mando-made, not any damned Kaminii stim shot or nutricube for you boys!"
"Sar-sarge?"
"One of them." He glanced over. "The magnificent color-man over there you'll recognize once he gets that helm off."
"Upgrade," Wad'e grunted. The bar of power in his hands wanted to slip. Didn't want to go through. What the fek was this lock made of? "I'll buy you boyos whatever shade you want if you work with us here."
Chakkyr came behind him. Pulled on the door's bracing while he pushed with all his might. Still it was long minutes before the sizzling came clearer, before the imperma-lead compound began to glow slightly.
Packs had been emptied of what they carried: Flexible, lightweight boots and ration packs. Nutrient-heavy, protein-rich, and restorative.
What touched Vau the most was the way the ones in the best shape moved forward, gathered, and distributed. He had to call out orders for two of them to suck a hydration tube before they fell out themselves.
"Gar kyrayc shuk bah ni."
It was the right thing to say. This lot had apparently been trained by one of them.
"Sergeant Braylor must have sent you," the lad smiled.
"No, but she sure will be sorry to see you lot in this shape after she went to all this trouble saving your shebs. Interested in a trip to see her?"
"I think I'd rather end it here than get reconditioned, if it's all the same to you, sir."
That offended Enacca mightily and she yowled in surprise at Vau.
"Rav's on Mandalore, son. Time to go home. You earned it. Some gal, ori'skraan, riduur, yaim' dab'ika?"
"You lot earned it the hard way," Wad'e agreed.
Felt a give. Never felt so much relief. Never felt so exhausted as he did after the long hours he spent defending the defenseless then physically hauling them out of hell that day and the one that followed.
The wookies came first.
He'd always remember that.
Not their war, not their fallen. But Enacca called and they were the first to respond, the first to land and hike in. You could hear their warships busting somebody out of the sky. Their sojourn here did not go unnoticed. But they emerged victorious and packed the young men off to meet a kinder fate.
It wasn't until the last circuit of the compound left Walon to face his disappointment that the truth crashed down: the man they'd looked for wasn't here and they hadn't seen any proof of where he'd been reassigned when the running of this penitentiary was deemed of least importance. He'd been on Kashyyyk. They'd tracked him here. The Reformist. One vicious at a'ayl if half of what they'd heard was true.
Sep. Now what? Where? If Vau caught up with him he'd be out of work permanently. But there were some pertinent questions he'd like to ask the skanah demagolka before he ended him.
.
"You gonna make it to the airfield?" Wad'e asked when he slumped into one of the command consoles.
He shook his head. Pulled off the bucket and ran a hand through his hair.
"Might have to leave that one to Chakkyr and his lot," he admitted. "Get me up."
"Shab," Wad'e hummed when he hauled at the taller man. He raised his glove, read the sensors. "You probably should have let us know you weren't up to par."
"More dope on the ship," Vau countered.
"Your pet jetii is not going to be impressed if you've killed yourself."
"They needed the meds. You saw them. I'm thinking I should have dressed-down and un-stuck that sticker, though."
"Oh, shab, Walon," Wad'e complained when the man limped harder. He commed Enacca. Told her to get the jedi and get the ship. No way was he hauling this armored bastard any further than he had to.
.
"Is he singing?"
The Wookie giggled. That was the only typification of the sound that escaped her.
[drunk]
"Batnor… That means drunk, Pinky-Blue Mistress."
"You're fucking kidding me."
"It was the only option left to me," Wad'e claimed. He half-dragged, half-hauled the larger man up the boarding ramp. "We already gave the good stuff away."
She peeked around in time for Wad'e to dump his burden in the hold. The noise muffled by the black buy'ce ground to a halt before she lifted the helm from the dark head. Saw the way Vau braced against the pain.
"I need the big med kit," Wad'e gestured.
"Why in the hell didn't you go with the others?" N'Dara demanded. "You look like you need a med center. Or at least a real doc!"
His eyes were glazed, his pallor lousy.
"Where'd you get your degree, teroch utreekov?"
Even as she moved toward him, intending to help the only way she could, his hands fisted and he tipped his head back. Held his breath as Wad'e Tay'haai slid the forceps deeper into his leg, retrieving the shard that had worked its way deeper and deeper toward his groin.
"Udessi," Wad'e cooed. "The girls are watching."
Those vacant eyes focused on N'Dara.
"Wanna kiss it and make it better?"
"Will you remember if I do?"
He let his head loll to the side, grimacing slightly more when Wad'e flushed the hole. "He's going to cauterize it next, if you're squeamish," Vau warned her.
"You know that I'm not. But if you'll let me I can make that step unnecessary."
"Have at it, waadasla ori'copaad."
She wondered—only briefly—what this new term of endearment meant when Wad'e so obviously flinched at its use.
"Look at me," she said gently, commanding and conquering in her calm conviction. Her hand felt like heaven, cool as she pressed it to his brow, her wrist bent so her forearm nearly doubled back on itself. The thumb of her other hand dug hard into his musculature and he damn near whimpered from the sudden pain of it.
"I thought you were my seraph," he whispered. "Payback?"
She quoted Olivia Gatwood to him. Her eyes were sad, staring into his. So blue just then. Not dark like they got sometimes, no lights danced in them, no sunny sky-like azure. Just blue.
"No one wants a half-remembered tragedy. You must know the width of the knife and how it ruined you, name the organs it kissed."
"No one kissed me as a child, I assure you. And I've far too many hurts from wounds far greater to bother enumerating them now."
"That is their sin, not yours."
"And if no gods demand accounting for them?"
"Then you still have my assurance," she promised him. "That is their sin. Not yours. Rest now."
Wad'e sucked in a breath when Walon went limp, his eyes closing and his head slumping to the side as though the jedi-witch had killed him.
"Mand'bor."
"That doesn't sound at all flattering," she hissed at him. Grunted and seemed to take on unbearable pain. Shook her head and fought the tears. Closed her eyes and swallowed against the bile in her throat.
Only the soft breaths, the easy laxness of Vau's brow and lips kept the other man from ending the jetii with her bloody hand buried in his friend.
Enacca came to see where she might help, her low yawling seemed remonstrative.
"She wants us to take his feet."
"He'll need a restorative when he wakes. Pulling it in your way cost him some and his clothes are soaked. He just has to play the tough," N'Dara bitched as they hefted him onto the bed the Wookie had already turned down.
Enaca shoved at the fully-beskared man still loitering in the doorway unnecessarily to her way of thinking.
"Right," Wad'e agreed. "On it. Yaim'la bekat - -herb- - I presume is good enough for you?"
"Hide it in whisky or wine," N'Dara advised. "Otherwise we'll never get him to sip it."
"Ne'tra gal is curative in its own respect."
"Fine. Draw him one of those, too. I'll take one as well. And see if-" She smiled with relief when Vau's eyelashes fluttered and he blinked, squeezed them tight before widening them.
"Jesu, Darrie. What the hell was that?"
"I blunted your pain." She grinned at him like she had just presented him with a particularly smarmy gift-card to accompany opera tickets or some such osik. "Your friend thought you might do with a drink."
Discreetly she hid her hands in the coverlet.
"I had a drink."
"That's what he said. You were singing to me."
"Was I now. And what tune did I demand you dance to?"
"It was Irmenu. I don't know the words."
"Fine. Reach me trousers and the next cup I'll take at table," he swore. He glanced up at the She-Wook who gently reached to help him. "I'm fine, En. It was a thin little sticker."
After she got him upright Enacca reached for N'Dara. Rubbed big, strong, warm hands at her shoulders, then at her hips.
Vau changed his mind about getting upright after balancing to tug his pants into place. Sat back down, lightheaded, then decided to succumb to gravity. Gave it up and fell backward.
Dara let out a soft laugh. Shoved a little at the strill who leapt up to inspect its newly-repaired life-guard.
"Here," Walon murmured. Reached for her, shifting a little. "Are you sore? Your pack rubbed?"
She shook her head, but let his strong fingers rub at the spot Enaca knew she'd ache from taking his pain while she healed him. The strill circled around, let her hold onto that warmth, too, to offer what remedy could be found in softness and love.
When Wad'e came in with glasses and a toked-bottle they were asleep. Curled, all of them, around the gold furball, Enaca gripping N'Dara's hand in one of hers and the women's heads pillowed on Vau's arm.
Good thing the man was tall enough that his captain's suite demanded a bed that would hold all of them, the other merc thought. Forgotten deities of Mandalore knew they'd probably have all piled up on him even on one of the more slender bunks in his old ship. Cause 'im more damage than darning, he thought as he went to get them airborne, get them cloaked, and restore his own appearances before falling flat on his face for what he hoped was five straight hours of sleep.
Somebody else could decide where to next as soon as they got regrouped.