Keldabe, Mandalore

The variety of market stalls was impressive in Keldabe, especially after what the planet had been through but then this was the old city, the Old Capital. The New Capital, Sundari, used by the New Mandalorians led by Duchess Satine, was in a worse state after the siege. Keldabe was old, been standing for centuries and would be difficult to remove. Viewed from above, it grew out of the rock that surrounded the Kelita river running through it and would be here until Mandalore was no more.

The Commander was not averse to his troopers taking time out to wander around the market and Coric was happy to do that but he had never had enough credits to buy anything in the past. He would have loved to buy Ryssa something on Coruscant, just to show his feelings for her but it wouldn't have been appropriate, she was married. But he still thought about it especially after seeing her on that shuttle, that was a surprise.

But after yesterday's meeting, he was in a bad mood.

He scanned through the outstanding warrants for ex- clone commandos and their associates on his HUD; the Nulls were there, some RC Squads and their training sergeants. Ryssa still wasn't. He checked again. If she had deserted since he last saw her, she would be on the list, it was updated daily. There were some who found the Empire wasn't to their liking and tried to leave, most didn't get far; he knew that for certain. He quickly checked her name—Imperial Medical, Imperial City, so she must have stayed. Did that mean, she wasn't with her husband any more? He had always thought that unlikely, but these things happened. He pushed down the spark of hope that sprang up. She was on Imperial City, so he couldn't do anything about it.

He and his Sergeant were 'wandering and mingling with the locals' as the Commander put it, or on patrol; they were just looking, both clones and not used to having belongings, other than odd items they picked up on their travels. His non-kamino sergeant was still flicking through the 'wanted' on his HUD but being one of the newer batches, was not experienced and as yet nothing piqued his interest. It was always more difficult on Mandalore as the locals wore their buckets and had to be asked to remove them, which itself could cause a problem, given the nature and culture of the native inhabitants.

It always felt odd thinking about them like that; he knew quite a bit of Mando, the Kamino Clones were steeped in it. It was his adopted culture. The man he was cloned from, Jango Fett, he had been the Mand'alor, chief of the clans. His Sergeant wasn't cloned on Kamino, that soon become apparent but he was coming up to speed; he was a quick learner.

He may look like a younger version of me but that's were the similarity ends.

They continued scanning, sometimes the colour of the armour was a give away, people tended to choose a colour and stick to it, as it meant something to them but still nothing was pinging on his Sargeant's checks.

Then he saw him, in the Tapcaf, the old man had removed his helmet for a few seconds and sneezed; it was that action, that alerted Coric to him. He knew who it was; he blinked to adjust the imaging on his HUD, without his Sergeant knowing, a privilege of rank. When he was a Sergeant, his superiors could see what he saw, simply by tapping into his display. He knew Rex had done it all the time. Shab, he still missed him and couldn't believe he was dead; it wasn't that easy to kill someone who had survived the Clone Wars with General Skywalker.

He focused again on the old man.

If this is who I think it is. He's on that list.

He watched as he walked out of the Tap Caf.

No limp, the armour's different and he's not as pugnacious and strong, as he had been in the GAR. He looks like a shrunken version but it's still him. He's got some gett'se showing up here, right next to the Garrison.

"I've spotted someone, Sergeant. Following to verify. Continue the patrol."

"Yes sir."

The closer he got to him the more certain he was that the older man to the right of him, now nonchalantly heading towards the stalls and looking at the wares, was Sergeant Skirata, ex GAR consultant, now wanted by the Empire. The height and build matched perfectly, despite him trying to disguise it, except the armour. Coric had made a special study of Mandalorian armour and what the different colours meant. Skirata had always worn the gold armour of revenge, like his name, 'skira' but now he had on the green that the majority wore. Good disguise for a Mando, and there were a lot of them around today. He had met him a couple of times and the rumour was he adopted the Null ARCs, then they deserted, including Ryssa's husband, A'den. He had better keep a look out for the others, Gilamar, Vau, the Nulls, and a Jedi, ex-General Jusik, who left the order some time ago; he was thought to be with them. He blinked to retrieve their data.

He let Skirata walk by, luckily his Sergeant wasn't checking the wanted lists, as thoroughly as he ought and didn't have the same ingrained knowledge of body language. He watched as the mandalorian entered yet another Tapcaf, sat and ordered something in a mug. It steamed. He took his helmet off again but had his back to the window and Coric couldn't get a good look at his face.

If Skirata's alive, here, then its likely, his sons are as well.

Priest, Reau, Skirata. If Gilamar is here then it could get interesting. He'd threatened Priest on Kamino and Fett had to pull them apart. A regular Cuy'val Dar reunion. What karking fun!

"False alarm, Sergeant, heading back….."

His HUD channel opened immediately, interrupting his conversation with his Sergeant. The Commander.

"Lieutenant, Report to my office immediately. New orders."

.

Coric reported in.

"At ease."

Coric's feet moved automatically, his bucket held at his side, his other arm behind his back. Textbook.

"Lieutenant you're being transferred. They have need of Commandos to train the newly recruited members of the Stormtrooper Corps."

"Sir?"

The Commander's left cheek twitched, he was angry. "I argued against it, saying it would deplete my already low number of experienced troopers in a potentially difficult area to police but apparently only Vader's Fist will have Commandos from now on. I'll be sorry to lose you."

"Sir!" Coric came back to attention.

"Your transport leaves in two days."

"Sir? Can you tell me where?"

"Apparently that is on a 'need to know' basis. Dismiss!"

Coric saluted and headed out.

So that's that.

.

Coric and his Sergeant continued their route. There was definitely more of the green armoured Mandos in the marketplace today. He couldn't see Skirata though. He swept the stalls, they were doing good business, plenty of credits changing hands. He had a few in his pouch, rattling, calling to him. There were no women here, not who would accept credits from him, not like Corrie. He'd got used to being able to get a woman that way, if he didn't want to spend time chatting to them. The cupboard had been a bit bare since coming here. It was frustrating.

Sod 'em all! He headed towards a stall he had seen selling trinkets and silky garments. A stupid idea came into his head.

.

Daro Imperial Garrison

Ryssa jumped in her sleep, waking herself up; it was a relief. The nightmares had returned, with a vengeance. Every night this week. Everyone she missed—L'leth, Ally and a new one featuring A'den accusing her of something….She never found out what, because it always ended when she woke up. She pulled herself away from the sweat soaked sheets, shivering; she felt cold, which was odd as Daro was not a cold planet, especially in this season. She shivered again and went to the 'fresher.

"Fek!" The Water was icy, causing and her to shiver again. She headed back to her bunk, but the mattress felt cold; she pulled the sheets off and stuffed them down the laundry chute. At least she didn't have to bother about that, the laundry droid would pick them up and deliver them back clean later.

The shower had finally warmed up, she stepped in and let the water do it's best. At least being on planet meant there was an abundance of water. No sonic showers. She couldn't actually cry anymore, had not been able to for a long time; it just physically hurt, when she thought about him. She wasn't sure but guessed he was somewhere on Mandalore, so now she was nowhere near him and no idea how to contact him or how he would contact her. She hoped that EmDee could come up with something from his investigations of the base.

She rinsed her hair, not even remembering the rest of the shower, it had been automatic; she dried, dressed, nightmares pushed to the back of her mind for the moment, checked her uniform and her room. Memorising how she left it, pushed her ear buds further in so that EmDee could keep her updated and stepped out into the corridor.

.

Medbay, Daro.

"Captain Gregor." Ryssa saw him leaning against the door frame, how long he had been there she couldn't be sure. He was particularly stealthy. "Headache?" She asked.

"Yeah. The newbies are being stupid today, even for mongrels—no offence."

"None taken. Let me do a scan. Just to make sure."

His slumped on the gurney. Ryssa scanned where he said he had a headache, and then the opposing side. Then removed his hand from her back side where he had been patting it. She didn't think he realised he was doing that.

"I cant find anything but you are tense." He grinned when she turned to him. "Stress. I can give you a muscle relaxant?"

"Yeah, okay."

Ryssa jabbed him in the neck and waited for him to jump up. He stayed. He looked as if he wanted to say something.

EmDee entered with a little friend, a Mouse droid. "Ma'am." He said aloud. "Privacy shields are up." He added into her ear. "Mouse, has been helping me map the base."

"Oh." She was surprised that he had used another droid but then it could probably go where he couldn't, not without being challenged and they didn't want to draw attention to themselves.

"Is there something else?" She continued to Gregor.

"You need to get some training."

"What?"

"New regs. All members of the Imperial Military have to complete regular training to ensure they are fit for duty. You. Doctor. Have not done any since you joined."

"You been checking up on me?" she asked, treating it as banter.

"Of course. You're not up to regs. Not done your fitness test." he stared at her, with that blank look all the clones have.

"I.."

"No excuse." he interrupted her, "Gym, 08:00 tomorrow."

"But…"

"08:00." He jumped off the gurney. "We're doing hand to hand combat now. That'll reduce me stress." He clicked his neck, before he saluted as he headed out of the door.

Ryssa stood open mouthed. She knew he was right but she hated the gym.

.

Gym, Lower levels, Imperial Garrison, Daro.

07:59 - Ryssa stomped into the gym. This was the last thing she needed, on top of everything else but as EmDee pointed out she needed to do it, to stay under the radar. She looked around, it was already full of men and women grunting, sweating, weights clanging as they released them. But there was no sign of Gregor, and it looked full; she turned to leave.

08:00 - "Ah, there you are Captain, glad to see you're following regs."

Gregor stood in front of her in training shorts and vest. Impressive physique, like all the Commandos, no wonder the newbies were working hard.

A few of the newbies turned to look at her, then went back to their exercises.

"So, how long has it been since you were in a gym?"

She looked around, taking in the fact that some of the newbies were still watching and listening surreptitiously, "You'll have to be gentle with me. I'm a virgin." She grinned, at her own joke. Gregor was bringing out the worst of her.

She heard a snigger, Gregor looked around and glared.

"TK-93427, 100 press ups, one handed, 50 each side."

"Sir yessir." came the reply.

"First, warm up, cross trainer."

Ryssa looked around the room wondering where the angry trainer was. She didn't see Gregor roll his eyes and sigh.

"Ten minutes on that." he walked her over to a machine, with two large foot shaped platforms and two large poles. She clambered on and nearly fell off, when all the parts started moving in different directions. He patiently showed her how to adjust it. She started up and got a rhythm going.

"That's it, keep going, steady rhythm. I'll tell you when to stop." He picked up a dumbbell and started nonchalantly pumping his bicep, whilst watching her.

He wants to kill me. She thought as she got warmer and warmer and more out of breath.

"Okay. Off that."

She clambered off knees buckling, as she touched the floor.

"We'll do some weights next."

She closed her eyes and groaned silently.

"Don't look like that. It gets better."

Gregor was a good trainer, he explained and demonstrated the exercises and before she realised it, they had covered a whole range of machines that she would be able to use herself and she actually felt better about it.

As she was doing her last sled pulls, he leaned towards her and whispered.

"I need to get out of here. This is not for me."

Ryssa's heart pounded even more than after the exercise.

"They may want to do it." He continued, jabbing his thumb towards the door, "but it's not for me. I'm a fighter not a trainer."

"Gregor should you be telling me this? You don't know me."

"Know enough. I'm a Commando."

Ryssa watched stunned, unsure what to think.

"He's planning to escape." EmDee commented into her ear; he listened to all her conversations. "The Imperials are watching Gregor. They know he wants out."

"Cap? 74901 says you can't bench press 225, for more than one lift."

Gregor looked over at the newby who had interrupted. She just knew he was going to prove them wrong.

"Pah! Easy. Let's make it the first to tap out."

She sighed. "Next time he comes in I'll talk to him." she replied to EmDee and now against her better judgement, she wanted to see these bench presses whatever they were.

74901 pushed through to the front of the newbies. He was big. He only just came inside the parameters for a Stormtrooper and he was cut. She thought that was the word for it. She vaguely remembered studying body builders at Medical School, how they would dehydrate to get the perfect look on their muscles. He looked like that. And he knew it.

It was also how Den looked sometimes after a mission, when he came straight to her, his muscles and veins were so pronounced. Her eyes watered, for a few seconds at the memory, before she blinked them away. She watched fascinated, as they prepared the equipment.

The benches and weights were set up and the newbies gathered around, obviously supporting their champion. Ryssa hovered in the background, listening as they started chanting.

"One…..Two…..three…..four….."

She moved slowly towards the gym door, her legs were already beginning to seize up and she needed a shower; she reached the door just as she heard 74901 tap out and Gregor whoop in delight. She didnt hear the actual number.

.

Keldabe, marketplace.

A'den had his green Beskar'gam on and walked alongside the normally black armoured Vau, who had also swapped his out for green. They both looked imposing, A'den for his sheer stature and Vau for the way he held himself. You wouldn't argue with either of them.

"A few stormtroopers out today, Market day." Vau commented as they saw several packs of stormtroopers in two's wandering around the market; he didn't make any comment on what they were both thinking, that these could be clones just like him. He knew they were being watched. "So long as you touch things, that will still spread the virus, the doctor says, it lives for a number of hours on inanimate objects, so you don't have to take off your helmet. I can do that." Vau offered.

"You're still a wanted man."

"Yes, but the images are dire."

A'den wandered along the stalls, there was one with brightly coloured silk garments, that caught his eyes. He headed towards it and Vau followed at a distance. A'den ran his hand along the edge of the stall. Anyone leaning against it would pick up whatever he left. His eyes lit on a lilac coloured wrap with embroidery on the back. He lifted it up, aware of Vau behind him and checked the size. It would match her hair and fit.

"Something for the little lady?" The question came through his HUD.

"For when she comes back."

A'den waited for the response, there was no comment from Vau this time. He handed over his credits to the stall holder, more of the virus spread on those. He sniffled, his nose and eyes were really sore now.

"Caught a cold Ad'ika?" Vau asked, in the way only he could. A'den imagined the look on his face, the supercilious smirk.

"So have you."

He ignored that.

"The ship's in the space port."

"Here?"

"Where else?" He pressed a button on his vambrace, "Kal's not the only one who knows how to do things. I'm sending you all the codes. You know what it looks like. It's in bay Ge'tal E'tad. Don't scratch it."

A'den noticed Vau's HUD moving around, then it fixed in place. He'd gone silent. He'd seen something or someone.

"Vau, why?"

"Like I told you. Need help with Sev. Nobody gets left behind including your girl. And call me Walon."

A'den was lost for words. That was not something he had ever considered.

"You've got my ship." he added by explanation.

"Vor'e Walon."

Bring her back. I failed her before not now.

A'den accepted it for the moment but was sure there was more to this but he didn't have time to ask more. He needed to be gone if he wanted to meet his timetable. He set off to the space port, noting Vau himself was headed somewhere else, at speed.

.

Coric had made his purchase almost forcing the credits into the woman's hands but he was happy with it. Not sure why but it gave him hope. Then the call came in. Something had happened down an alley leading to the river, picked up on one of the security cameras that had started to be installed. Although they were vandalised more often than not. Some only lasted minutes before they were shot out. He and his sergeant headed to the alley. Apparently, three Mandos went in, two came out.

"No one here Lieutenant."

As if there's were likely to be.

He scanned the area. Ideal place for an ambush.

"Stay there. Watch my six." He had to trust that he would, as he walked slowly down the alley. Half way down he found it.

"Blood stains, a lot. Someone bled out here." No body, no blaster burns, no knife. Clean apart from that.

"Bled out?" The sergeant asked, "How do you know that?"

"Seen it often enough. Blood goes a long way but look. More blood splatters here." He pointed to the wall and here. Arterial blood splatter. You wouldn't survive that."

"It's a pity you're going Sir. I could learn so much from you."

"You'll be in charge of the squad now. Keep an eye on Hil for me. The lads's okay."

"Yes sir."

"The body's probably in the river." Coric went back to the alley.

"Why?"

"It's where I would put it."

The sergeant nodded.

"Nothing more here. You'll just have to wait till it's found downstream somewhere. Hopefully you'll be able to ID it."