Project War-Mantle, Daro.

Ryssa couldn't believe her eyes, of all places in the galaxy for him to turn up, here. Just when she was feeling low, after Gregor, and Hunter, who had disappeared from the Garrison before she could check him over.

"I didn't know you were here." She said, reining in the urge to say more, reminding herself that he was an Imperial Commando here to train Stormtroopers. She remembered what Gregor had said about others wanting to be here.

"Only been here a day, transferred in from Mandalore." He replied. She nodded towards the med bed. "What's it like, this planet, I haven't actually seen much of it."

"Me neither." he answered, as he lay down.

She removed his chest plate and he parted his blacks. She dabbed antiseptic at the lacerations; they were in an awkward place.

"You weren't on Mandalore during the seige?" Stupid. He was alive he couldn't have been there. The conversation stopped, she didn't know what to say to him. She kept working.

"Nah, Coruscant." Coric winced as he replied, he considered explaining how Skywalker split up the Battalion but no one spoke about Skywalker anymore. He changed the subject quickly. "How did you end up here?"

Ryssa shrugged her shoulders, "It was a transfer, not my request. A long story."

It always was with her.

They went silent, while she continued to clean the wound. He hissed again once or twice, as it stung, it wasn't the best product available, but it was stronger than normal. There were no problems getting Bacta in parts of the Empire; it had tried to buy up every last ounce and taken over production in some areas. Now it commanded as high a price as Spice in some areas.

"Sorry. How did you get this?"

"Manoeuvres on planet. I joined as soon as I arrived. They needed the numbers. Jumped in with both feet. It was supposed to simulate Mandalore, so they wanted to know how realistic it was. Better than sims. But Fek me the Karking newbies! Had to dive down after one kriffin' barve. I swear he's so dense, light bends round him. Just caught him but got this as thanks."

Did all of the Commandos call them newbies?

She leant over attaching the Bacta bandage, covering the lacerations.

Coric closed his eyes. Memories flooded back, with all the feelings, the ones he had ignored or pushed down for years. After meeting her on the shuttle, he had ruthlessly pushed those down again, but the marketplace in Keldabe, Skirata. He was being stupid letting himself hope.

"So, a promotion, what did you do to get that? Not that it wouldn't have been deserved, with everything you did with The 501st." Her voice roused him from his thoughts even if it sounded like small talk.

"My job." He replied.

Now I'm making small talk. He wanted to ask more.

"That's finished, Cor…..Lieutenant," she corrected herself. "this new Bacta is strong compared to some we used to get and now you need the scan. It may cause some discomfort." She disposed of the dressings in a small refuse bucket.

"That bad eh?" he dead panned, as he climbed under the machine. She ignored his comment.

"Do you get any headaches on a regular basis?"

"Yes. Why?"

"When do they occur?"

"Most days, at any time. It varies." He had never thought to make notes; many of his brothers had headaches but thinking about it, it was usually when he was given orders, the ones he didn't agree with. Ones he struggled with and those orders were being given more and more. He was being asked to do things that no soldier should be asked to do. He put it down to stress but he shouldn't be suffering from that; they were supposed to have engineered that out of them and the headaches had been in his life for so long now.

"EmDee." The droid started the machine.

He watched her noting the results.

The chip was there and appeared to be functioning as normal. She turned but he grabbed her wrist and held her back. "And how are you?"

"I'm fine, Thank You." She pulled her hand away from him

"You haven't told me exactly what happened, exactly how you ended here."

She watched him; he looked the same, a little older but he sounded different, tired, cynical - he was always a cynic after Teth, no - he sounded hard, brittle, worn down.

"I was on Coruscant, when the Emperor was kidnapped by Grievous and the Jedi attempted their Coup. The rest is history. I've been on a couple of planets working with Vice Admiral Rampart, and then transferred here."

She didn't know if she could trust him. Before, after what Rex had told her on Umbara, she would never have hesitated, but now? Was he loyal to the Empire? Some of the Clones were, Gregor said so. No. She couldn't take the risk.

"Your….. husband?" He had to ask.

Her mind raced, as she searched for a suitable reply, she was looking at an Imperial Stormtrooper, a clone with a functioning chip in place, "I..I don't know, he disappeared." His face was unreadable and she finally turned away, hoping hers was just as blank. He already knew who she was married to, and that he and his family were on the wanted list, so if he was going to report her, he would. There was nothing she could do, except decommission the chip and hope. The machine was doing that as they spoke, finally it reached the end of its cycle.

"All finished Lieutenant. You know the drill." He snorted, "Sir, yessir." And jumped off the gurney before turning to her. "I hope we can see each other again."

Her stomach lurched. "If you're injured—but I hope you aren't." She wanted to trust him and wanted to believe that the machine worked on everyone. But she needed to get back to Den, wherever he was. She assumed it was Mandalore. She kept her eyes down completing the treatment details on the datapad, avoiding looking at him and when she did, it wasn't the old Coric looking back at her.

"I'll see you soon then, Captain." He saluted, crisply, and left the medical room, not appearing to hear or ignoring, what she had said. She stood there heart pounding, hoping the machine had worked.

EmDee moved next to her.

"Doctor Baey, is IC8303 one of those reasons you need to tell me about?" He cocked his head to one side as he said it.

Ryssa shook her head, "He worked with me on Coruscant."

EmDee had enough information there to work on.

He had measured those anomalies again.

.

The Commando entered the MedBay knowing she would be there; she had been avoiding him since the treatment on those lacerations caused by that kriffin' newby. Then that scan she did on his head. He'd had regular headaches before but none now. He felt different. He wanted to tell her that, it may be important. Completing the scan had been important to her.

She was standing at the lab counter completing some tests. He removed his helmet.

"The med Droid will see to you, I'll just be a minute." She said, as she heard the 'shhh' of his helmet lock releasing; she turned.

She froze for a split second when she saw him, that never used to happen and turned back to the counter. "If there's nothing wrong with you Lieutenant, you'd better leave, I'm busy." She turned off the datapad she was holding.

He checked the security cams; she was just out of range. He realised the medbay had been rearranged from the normal layout and the droid was always hovering in the back ground.

He ignored her and moved up close, so close he could smell her, still a hint of citrus. "You used to call me Coric." He took a deep inhale of her perfume and gently placed his hands on each of her upper arms. He felt her sway slightly.

"Lieutenant, you're too close. You're invading my personal space."

He'd seen what she was looking at and debated telling her about who he had seen on Mandalore.

"When I was on Mandalore…."

"Yes?" She looked hopeful.

"Nothing, just the Imperial garrison.

"Oh."

"Looking for anything in particular?"

"No, just research." She closed him down.

It wasn't just research. It was the outstanding warrants.

"There appears to be some kind of virus going around the men." he changed the subject.

"Virus?"

"Yes. Runny nose. Aches and pains. It doesn't last long and doesn't appear dangerous but I thought it would be best to get it checked out, just in case there's any long term effects." He watched her reaction. She looked blank. "Also, my headaches have gone."

"Totally gone?" She was more interested in that.

"Yes. Not had one since you used that machine. What is it?"

"Just a scanner. Kaminoan."

"Hmm. First time they've done something good for us. Not had to take any pain killers since."

"Even with the virus?"

"Yes."

"When did you develop symptoms of the virus?"

"The day after I got here."

"It's probably nothing serious but I'll get the droid to do some blood tests. It may be some local virus on Mandalore you hadn't been exposed to before or a mutation of a common one. But we'll check it."

EmDee rolled gently over to the Lieutenant and extracted the small amount of blood needed, while Coric downloaded the details of his newbies, who had symptoms, so the droid test them.

"Now that didn't hurt, did it?" The EmDee droid had affected a monotonous depressing tone today, it was the first time Ryssa had heard it.

"Are you OK EmDee?"

"Yes." it droned. "It's just going to be one of those bloodletting days, I can see." Its servos droned slightly in an impression of a sigh. "Oh such is the life of an MD droid." It droned as it headed out of the door.

Both Coric and Ryssa, watched as it went on its, not so merry way.

"I'm sorry about that, Lieutenant." She said slowly, "I think he needs a service. I'll see to it." The droid was getting more and more eccentric the longer it was with her; it made some quite personal comments at times.

"I'd scrap the Fekking thing." Muttered Coric, half under his breath, as he left the med bay.

.

Takodana

A'den dropped out of hyperspace over Takodana; entering the coordinates his father gave him, he descended to land, flying low over a lake before gently coming into land in what looked like a meadow. No Air Traffic Control contacted him. He wasn't sure if that was good or bad at this point. He scanned the landing area, there was number of ships already parked up around what looked to be a castle, for want of a better word.

Give Vau his due this was a good little ship. He'd love to know how he managed to get a ship that had been built by the Theed Palace Space Vessel Engineering Corps; it wasn't as shiny as some but still…he completed his checks, putting on the normal security measures which for the Nulls were impressive. He would know exactly who had been near it when he came back. That was always useful. He pulled up the Intel sent by his father.

All are welcome at Maz's but you need to follow the rules. No violence of any sort. Maz enforces it —strictly. She's got droids. Emmie is one, she's ancient and there's another, who'll meet you when you land. Don't aggravate them. Don't attempt to shoot them.

He did have to stop himself firing on HURID-327, which offered to take his bags. He didn't have any, it was only intended to be a flying visit.

He walked through the impressive grounds to the entrance.

When you get to the entrance there's a sign. "All are welcome. (No fighting.) It means "NO FIGHTING" and a large statue of Maz. It's deceptive. She's old, very, very old, possibly as old as Kina Ha and she has some funny ways. Whatever you do you'll be okay for at least one night. Just DON'T START A FIGHT.

He found the sign, in several galactic languages, noticing Mandoa wasn't included there. It would have been pointless anyway telling a Mando not to fight, and the statue, it was huge.

He walked into the castle.

Seeing the number of villains currently inhabiting the space he entered, he understood the need for the no fighting rule. His HUD showed him there were no other Mandos here; a lot of concealed weapons but none were drawn.

There were musicians and he could get something to eat. He spotted the droid. Avoiding it, he took a seat at a table. A smaller version of the statue from outside approached him and sat down. He recognised her but had expected her to be larger.

"We don't get many Mandos around here. The no fighting rule puts them off." She stared at him. "Clone eh?"

"How?" He still had his helmet on.

"Let me look at you." She leaned towards him. He backed away.

"Let me look at you."

An ancient droid appeared behind Maz.

"Without the helmet."

He needed information, so against his better judgement, he removed his helmet. Pulling her goggles apart, she then grabbed him either side of his face and pulled it towards her, her grip strong. She stared into his eyes. Then searched his face. It was unnerving, he felt as if she was looking into his very soul, if he had one.

"Huh! Jango was better looking when he was your age."

He ignored the jibe.

"I'm looking for a woman."

"This is not that kind of bar." The droid huffed on Maz's behalf.

"Not any woman, a particular woman. Kal Skirata said you may be able to help." There was no response to that. He brought up an old hologram. "This woman, Doctor Neryssa Baey, she's with the Imperials but she wants to get out."

She looked at the hologram, then cocking her head to one side, she looked at him.

"My wife."

"Aah."

"Have you seen her or heard of anything to do with an Admiral Rampart."

"This new Empire is like all the old ones. It will rise and it will fall, but all in good time. They think they have removed all the Jedi but that will never happen. New ones will come along. It's the nature of the galaxy."

He didn't care about Jedi.

"I need to find her."

"Yes, you do. She will be your salvation."

He pulled away. This felt just like all that Force Osik, the Jedi did. He didn't need that.

"All Empires think they have secrets but they don't. Nothing is ever secret. I can get you a list of the known 'secret' bases, the ones that I know about so far. I'm sorry. That's as much as I can do." She watched him for a few seconds, "No fighting here." Then turned to her droid. "Get the list."

The ancient droid trundled away.

"Here. Ne'tra gal. I assume you like it."

"Yes. But…"

"We still get the occasional Mando here. I keep a supply in." She pushed the bottle towards him. "Drink it later if you want."

The droid returned with a flimzi list and held it for him.

"Those are all we know about."

A'den scanned down the list, concerned that he had never heard of most of these places. He popped his bottle in his pouch and rose.

"And tell Kal he's still banned. It doesn't matter how many good looking, well mannered boys he sends here. And I'm not telling you why. Go find your wife, live a long life, don't bother me again."

She waved him away.

He nodded.

.

Daro Garrison.

Ryssa stared at the outstanding warrants. They were all there on the daily lists. She breathed again. This had become her ritual. First thing in the morning, in Medbay check the lists. EmDee was watching her again.

"The list has not changed for those that you check daily." He advised.

She smiled, she should have known that it would have checked on what she was doing. His depressive state yesterday was just a ruse to put her off. He was back to normal.

"Why are these clones and Mandalorians so important? The privacy screen is up and running."

"This one is my husband." She pointed to A'den.

"You have feelings for him."

"He's my husband. I love him. I want to get back to him."

EmDee was taking a long time to process this information; she was beginning to think she had made a mistake in telling him.

"Understood. I have updated my database with their details. If there are any changes. I will let you know. Thank you for explaining the anomalies to me.

She breathed out again.

.

Hyperspace Lane, coming up to Concord Dawn

A'den sat in the cockpit, reading through the list Maz had given him. These bases were spread throughout the galaxy, some even edging into Wild Space and none appeared to be previous Republic Bases, otherwise he would have recognised them. Some weren't even on the published star maps. Either the Empire had been really busy in the last few months or the planning had been going on for years; probably the latter as he was proof of that.

His Com pinged. Cid.

"Hey good looking. How's that brother of yours?"

"Fine." At the moment, he thought.

"Your personal business."

"Yes."

"She was last sighted on Daro."

"Daro? When?" That was on his list. Near wild space.

"Definitely. A few rotations ago. My boys just got back. They had eyes on the prize but it got a bit hairy, so they couldn't do an extraction. Not that they were supposed to be there anyhows, but that's my problem."

"Thanks."

"Word of warning, don't go there alone. My boys are good, very good and not all of them came back. Laser brains."

"Thanks Cid."

The hologram dropped down.

"Now to face Buir."

He sliced his transponder again; a freighter full of nerf calves for farms in the north. Air Traffic Cntrol let him through no questions asked. He landed gently and walked down the ramp towards his father and a greeting party of his brothers.

"Maz and Cid say hello."

Kal shook his head before he wrapped him in a hug.

.

He felt a lot better now he'd had some of Laseema's stew, even L'leth was there; She had rushed over from Rav's, accompanied by Dev but he couldn't give her any other news. Everyone was there, Bes and Laseema fussed over him a little, as Ordo stood to one side, silent. Jilka and Corr were there, with Atin and his brothers. He noticed Vau standing off.

"Din'kartay." demanded Kal, as A'den swallowed the last of his stew. Ny had insisted he have something to eat first, and Kal for the first time in a long time was bowing to someone else's will in the case of his sons.

"Ryssa's been seen on Daro. A few rotations ago."

.

Imperial Garrison, Mandalore

"Commander, we've had contact from someone who has some information but they wish to keep it anonymous."

"We check everything Corporal, even anonymous. Can we back track and find out where it comes from?"

"The best we can do is somewhere up in the North Country."

"Mmm. Shysa's got a lot of support up there."

He looked up from his datapad.

"What do they say?"

"They say that there's a spy on our base on Daro. I didn't know we had a base on Daro, wherever that is."

"We don't know everything Corporal, can't know everything. Pass it on to ISB let them sort it out. We'll deal with what we can but we'll have some more surveillance on Shysa. See where he goes and who he meets, especially further up North. And get me Reau. It's about time she earned her credits, instead of causing trouble and moping about Priest."