Ord Mantell
Outskirts of the capital
Cantina
The cantina lost a lot of custom when the Mandalorians came in. A'den threw credit chips onto the bar, for the now lone barkeeper watching his patrons exit like a swarm of Nubian bees.
"That should cover any disruption." He added, sounding particularly menacing with his bucket still on.
The bar keeper nodded, as he pulled the chips towards himself before dropping them behind the bar and reverting to polishing a frosted, grubby looking glass.
The remainder of the intimidating group followed him to the rear, a pop up office for Gaib and Teekay - O Inc. The droids head followed each of them as they sat down.
"Good to see you again." Gaib was doing the pleasantries. "Got everything for you, even if it's not the norm. It's round the back."
"I'll check it." Offered Jaing, moving immediately.
"I'm offended that you would even think that we would get anything but the best for you." Gaib feigned offence.
Jaing headed out of the back door any way.
"We can't be too careful friend." Mereel added, removing his helmet. He faced away from the barkeeper. "So how's business?"
"Not too bad actually. This new Empire has caused a surge on certain items, pushed the price up on some commodities, some are a little more difficult to get hold of now."
"Such as?" his expressive eyebrows raised.
"Bacta. They've taken over whole planets that produce it. Planets producing Doonium are on their shopping list. Ryloth."
"Whole planets?" Asked Kom'rk, they'd heard rumours.
"It's either produce it willingly or unwillingly, makes no difference to them. They're even after Kyber crystals."
Mereel remained straight faced.
"Our price hasn't changed. I hope." Mereel's voice was icy, he didn't like the idea of being fleeced even if he could afford the cost numerous times over.
"Other than the Empire, you're one of our best customers. And we're thinking about doing loyalty cards now." Gaib quipped.
"So how many sets of armour do we get for free?" Kom'rk continued the banter, lightening the conversation.
"More importantly does the Empire get any?" Mereel added, his voice returning to its reasonable tone.
"Only our truly valued customers would get one and I wouldn't go that far with the armour yet but here's some free advice."
"And that would be?" A'den asked.
"Whatever you're thinking of doing on Daro— don't."
"Never thought I would hear you two turn down money." Mereel was pushing for the extra Intel.
"You're valued customers, so we don't want to lose you."
"It's not an option." A'den growled.
"Another extraction. Are you sure they actually want out this time?" Gaib asked, knowing somehow what happened on Coruscant.
"This one does." A'den's voice was just this side of angry.
Teekay-O passed over a data chip. "That's all the Intel we have." He scrutinised them, as they looked at it. "It includes images of the layout. Old Clone War codes won't work there. It's all been changed. Tarkin is in overall charge, with someone called Rampart next in line and then the Commander of the Garrison. Tarkin reports direct to the Emperor."
A'den activated the hologram, and walked through the tour, through corridors and rooms of the garrison. Very much like the Republic's garrisons.
"They still need helmets replaced and upgraded and other tech but seem to prefer droids to interact with. There's a nasty looking one there. It's expertise is torture."
A'den watched through the lens of Teekay-O, as it followed the black tentacled probe, towards an unnamed area. It turned suddenly, rushing at him, as he got near. The images showed him backtracking quickly, whilst the probe hovered at the door until he left.
"One place I couldn't get into. I assume it's interrogation."
They continued to watch as the images moved past the training areas, new stormtroopers were being put through their paces, trained by former RC's and ARCs. The room was quiet, as the Nulls and Corr watched carefully.
"There's a great many of your brothers there, who don't seem to mind being used. Plus the— Nat borns—is that what you call us? Are being trained up and they're being brain washed, if they weren't already staunchly pro Empire, which many of them are, they soon will be. The Republic didn't do many favours for a lot of the galaxy and they probably see this as pay back."
"Are all the Stormtroopers here Nat borns?" Corr asked
"As far as I could ascertain." Teekay-O replied, to Corr.
Kom'rk pushed the data chip into his pad. "Very thorough," he commented, quietly.
"So when….." Gaib was going to ask.
Mereel shook his forefinger at him.
"Just want to make sure we don't overlap. We've got a pick up to do in two days. Don't want to disrupt business." He continued.
"Thanks." Commented Mereel.
"This new armour is osik. It's worse than the original white jobs had. Is the Empire aiming to get its Stormtroopers killed?" Corr made his second comment, after turning over the piece of armour Jaing handed to him. He had always worked with Omega squad, except for that first time but this was a team made up of all Nulls and that was a whole new Bolo ball game.
"I don't think they give a toss, ner vod." Kom'rk added.
"So that's not changed."
"If you'd had that, Cor'ika," Mereel nodded to the piece Jaing was handing around, "You wouldn't be here now." He slung his arm over his brother's shoulder.
"Everybody up to speed?" Kom'rk asked. There was nods all around.
"Oya!"
Kom'rk mirrored Mereel but with A'den. "You ready for this? I'll finally get to meet that woman of yours eh?"
.
Mandalore
Northern Territory
Hunting Lodge
"Coric?"
"Yes." He shouted, as he rushed into the bedroom. She'd been there two days now.
"I heard something."
"It was just me coming back inside. Brought in some wood."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"It's okay."
"It's just…..I couldn't hear you talking.… I thought it was …..I'm sorry."
"I said it's okay." He turned to go.
"No it isn't. I need to do more. It's driving me mad lying here."
Thinking. Remembering.
"Help me get up. Then I can help."
His brow raised in a question.
"Well, the least I can do is look after myself."
His eyebrow stayed raised.
"I can try." She winced as she sat up.
"Not yet."
She lowered herself back down. "Alright."
He watched her for few seconds for the inevitable argument. None came. That was easy, he thought.
"I'm just gonna do chop some wood. I want to get a good supply in. The weather looks like it's going to worsen soon and I want to be prepared."
She nodded, "Okay."
He watched her for a few seconds, until he was satisfied she wasn't going to argue.
.
Ryssa waited, until she no longer heard him moving around, then she slid her feet out of bed onto the tiled floor, pulling them back up quickly. It was so cold still. Coric had left some clothes for her earlier and she remembered he said the fresher worked. She pushed herself up to a standing position, then walked very slowly, legs shaking, to the fresher, using the walls to lean on and taking minutes rather than seconds to cross the few feet. Once she reached it, she stopped, struggling to get her breath. She waited, taking shallow breaths until the sharp pains ceased. Eventually her breathing became more measured but she kept it shallow to avoid the pain. She had to cope with it; they had limited pain relief and she didn't want to use it all, just in case.
She reached the wash basin, leaning against it to steady herself and let the suuden dizziness abate. It had taken more out of her than she thought.
"Just take it steady." She whispered to herself, as she washed, not trusting herself to do anything more. She wasn't sure the shower actually worked and there was a large bathtub as well as shower in the room; whoever owned this liked their comforts. She stood getting her breath again, preparing herself to get back to the bed.
"Baby steps." She told herself, as she braced herself against the wall.
"I thought I told you to stay in bed." Coric's voice barked out.
Ryssa nearly jumped out of her skin and held onto the wall to stop herself falling over.
"Aw! For Fek's sake! You scared me."
"Good! Perhaps then you'll stay in bed where you belong."
"Bet you say that to all the girls."
"It's not funny."
"I need to do something. I can't just lie there like a ….a…corpse."
Coric grinned now. "If you were a karking corpse I would have left you behind." He held out his arm, "Come on." If she was joking, she was feeling better.
"Kriff off." Ryssa batted it away and did the best imitation of 'angry' that she could with unsteady legs and a painful side but she made it to the main living area. She stood breathing hard and sweating, and looked around. It was the first time she had seen it properly. It was a reasonable size, a kitchen and dining area off. What looked like an office or other bedroom but there was no bed. There was a large seating area and another door that led somewhere.
"I'll give you the tour when you've rested and had a drink."
"Okay." She agreed as she lowered herself slowly onto the settee.
"Here put this on." He threw a thin knitted hat towards her. She only just caught it. "You're not used to having no hair. You'll lose heat through your head."
Her hand automatically went to her head. Her scalp felt bristly; it was already starting to regrow, and itched a little. She had avoided looking at her head in the mirror, knowing she would hate what she saw and she could feel the raised scabs from where they had cut her. Coric had cleaned them but it still didn't feel like her head.
"It won't take long to grow back."
She looked at the hat and sniffed. No funny smells. Looked clean.
Coric sighed, loudly.
She pulled the hat on; it did feel better, warmer.
.
Three times around the room, holding onto the furniture and she was feeling better than the morning; she would try again tonight. Or even earlier because she really wanted to find out what was in all the cupboards and drawers. Coric wouldn't be back yet, he'd gone to retrieve EmDee and check if anyone had been around the crash site. He hadn't left her alone before.
"No time like the present."
Pulling herself up and still holding onto the furniture, "Luckily it's sturdy," she muttered as she leant against the heavy wooden table. Then lurched towards the kitchen cupboards. She opened each in turn, revealing a mixture of cooking utensil and cleaning implements. The conservator had a few things in it. Not much to keep them going. Shig and dried caf on the top. Coric must have done that.
She stood resting and looked around. There was that closed door. She went to it, slowly turned the old fashioned knob. All the doors were manual, to save on energy; she chose that moment to wonder where the energy came from. There was a conservator and lights, not bright and the water was heated somehow, unless that was through the fire. Coric had kept that on all the time and there was hot water all the time.
Now she had more questions than answers.
The door was locked.
She returned to the cupboards looking for keys.
"Yes." She exclaimed, on finding them and turned quickly to get back to the door, too quickly, the sharp pain came back. She stood panting, for a few seconds then headed for the mysterious door again.
One of the larger keys fit and she pushed it open; the old hinges screeched in protest, as a low light came on automatically. Looking down she could see, steps, she trod carefully down them, the lights switching on, as she moved closer to the bottom.
"Hmm. A basement."
She reached the bottom and found a whole room, illuminated.
"Kriff!"
She looked around.
"There's everything for a seige here."
More conservators. Shelves full of glass jars and old fashioned cans of vegatables. The walls shone with wetness but when she touched the nearest one, expecting it to be wet and cold, it surprised her by feeling quite warm and shiny, not wet. The conservators were running on something.
She was more confused now. There seemed to be no end to the room. Moving forward slowly, using the walls to steady herself, the room slowly revealed itself. The lights activated by motion as she moved further along. It narrowed at the end, leading to a door. She pushed it, it moved and she reached through; it appeared the lights didn't extend further. She searched nearby, checking if there were flares or lanterns, something to light the way. She could see nothing.
"What are you doing here?" Ryssa stepped back suddenly, into a hard body.
"Fek! Don't do that. That's twice, you scared the shit out of me."
"Well. That's a nice turn of phrase I must say." Coric imitated a high Coruscanti accent, similar to hers.
"You know what I mean. Don't creep up on me."
"I wasn't karking creeping. I made enough noise to wake the Fekking dead." He swore, "You shouldn't be down here alone."
"Do you think there are dead down here?"
"No I think it's an escape tunnel and we need to investigate when we have more time. Now back upstairs. I've made some shig."
"Yes. Mother."
"Pfft."
.
Ord Mantell.
Once again they had Vau's ship, even though it was a tight squeeze with five fully armoured Mandalorians plus all the additional equipment they had acquired.
Mereel stroked the instrument panel of the cockpit, lovingly; he had been dying to get his hands on it. A'den had piloted it here.
"I know she's a beautiful ship but are you going to pilot this thing or make love to her?" Kom'rk deadpanned. He chewed on a piece of ruik root that Corr had given him; it took the edge off, he didn't know why but it did. He'd have to check that out.
"It's a J-type star skiff or Naboo star skiff, equipped with Sossen - 7 sublight engines, modified hyperdrive and I mean, modified, equipped with shielding, sensor jamming system and reinforced hull with chromium plating. Not to mention the top mounted laser cannons."
"I think my brother's in love. Do we need to give the two of you some privacy?" Kom'rk made his fingers and thumb into an 'O' shape and swung it back and forth to indicate what he meant.
"Just don't come on the floor, Vau wouldn't like it." Jaing added, not looking up from his datapad.
"And don't dent it." A'den pushed his brother. "And no spitting."
"Spoilsports."
"Did Vau treat himself after Mygeeto?" Corr asked. He had heard all about that little escapade with the banking clan, when he was training. Privately he wouldn't like to tangle with either Kal or Vau, even though they were both old enough to be his grand father, if he had been Nat born. He couldn't even think like that and didn't want to. He leant back against the headrest of some very comfortable seats and thought about Jilka. He was lucky compared to some brothers. He thought it was the end of him when he was pushed into that logistics job. He had hated that.
"Come on, no messing." A'den was getting impatient.
Mereel started up the engines. "Mesh'la." He murmured, and pulled on the yoke. The ship rose silently and smoothly into the air, their trajectory taking them away from the city and into the stratosphere ready to punch in the hyperdrive.
Thirty seconds later he hit the hyperdrive.
.
Imperial Garrison
Mandalore
Commander Gerit watched as his new Commandos strode down the ramp of the Empire's regular supply transport. Three. All he had asked for, was a replacement for the ARC Trooper that had subsequently gone AWOL but what he did have in replacement was three Imperial Commandos, more Clones but these were supposed to be loyal. He had thought the others were but these had been with Melusar. He had spoken with him, once he knew who their commanding officer had been, or still was. They were on loan but on the understanding that they would have some activities off the books that they were to undertake for Commander Melusar.
Gerit continued to watch.
"A squad of three, unusual."
The three heavily armoured commandos, stopped, observing their surroundings, their helmeted heads turning slowly.
"So this is Mandalore?" Rede asked, not sounding particularly impressed. He didn't verbalise his thoughts on it any further.
"Yeah." It was Darman who replied, sounding equally unimpressed.
So this is where my son is? Where my wife's remains are?
No not here, somewhere far from here.
Somewhere I need to find.
With the Jedi.
"You okay Dar?" Niner asked, on their private channel. He had been quiet, more so than normal on the trip over. Rede had been just as quiet but Niner knew he had been accessing his HUD for info on Mandalore. He never stopped learning.
"Elek."
"Okay. Let's report in."
Gerit watched the commandos as they moved off heading to report direct to him. Melusar's a good man, gets things done and if he needs his men to do something off grid, he must have a good reason. Gerit didn't mind so long as he could use them himself; the Mandalorians were being difficult to pin down. Melusar should have gone further in the Republic, he was a charismatic and efficient leader of men but from an obscure planet, not core world bred and that would always be held against him in the Republic and the Empire, that and he was obsessed with Force users and had made his feelings about the Jedi known but now he was with Vader.
.
Daro System,
Near Wild Space
"Shields up, scanning." Jaing had joined Mereel as a co pilot as they dropped out of hyperspace. They'd come up with a plan on the go, even though they had done numerous extractions and incursions but this was personal for one of them.
Corr pulled at the Stormtrooper armour, they had changed into, with A'den keeping Commando armour.
"Everybody good?"
There were murmurs of agreement.
"Jet pack check."
They formed a circle and check each other's jet packs, slapping their brother's backs when satisfied.
"Armour integrity check."
They'd all done these checks since they first trained with jet packs and zero atmosphere environments; the last thing they needed was to fall to their deaths or suffocate before they even landed.
"Stealth mission. We go in from the top and make our way down. One objective." A'den had the holoimage displayed and everyone had the details uploaded to their HUDs.
"Ready Mereel?"
He jammed on his HUD in reply and pushed the yoke down, engaging the sensor jamming system. They needed the element of surprise for this to work.
A'den stood holding onto to a handhold waiting for the drop off point. The Nubian ship swept a graceful arc into the valley and doors opened. One by one the disguised Mandalorians jumped igniting their jet packs seconds later they would be at the Garrison.
I'm coming for you Cyar'ika. Stay strong.
.