Hello everyone, I'm still alive. I got a new computer and managed to get this done. It may have taken a while but it got done. I also want to thank Tadd Lar'ken for allowing me to use a character of his for this story. You'll also notice a few familiar faces here as well. Without further, here is the story.
Chapter Five: Mobilization
Jace Lar'ken sat in the living room of their client along with seven other Mandalorian warriors. He recognized a few of them, Kal Skirata, Rav Bralor and Vhonte Tervho. The other three, a pair of Zabrak twin brothers and a pale Humanoid. Unlike himself and the three older Mandos in their customized armor, these three had the same suit of armor, the same style of armor the Death Watch, including a scratched off hawk bat.
"So," one of the Zabrak brothers asked, "How is everyone doing?"
"Doing just fine," Jace answered curtly.
The younger being looked at his shoulder and realized why the older Human was being slightly hostile.
"Don't worry about our former affiliation good sir," he stated, "We don't fight for them anymore. Didn't really fight for them all that enthusiastically to begin with."
"I find that a little hard to believe," Kal Skirata added grumpily, "If you're unenthusiastic about Death Watch, why'd you join them?"
"We didn't have a choice," the pale Humanoid replied, "Death Watch demands conscripts from every clan to keep them quiet about his recent alliances."
The four older Mandalorian raised eyebrows at this statement.
"What alliances?" Jace asked.
"The Death Watch is allowing pirate groups to set up shop and it's been causing problems with the inhabitants of the Mandalore Sector," a new voice answered.
The older Mandos turned to sound of the origin of the speaker and were taken aback by what they saw. Two older Human males and a middle aged Human female. The female had tan skin, hardened brown eyes and short blonde hair. She wore the same style of armor the former Death Watch members sitting across from them, even had the scratched off hawk bat.
The Two Human males on the other hand had a very different style.
One of them had a head of black hair and beard that started to show gray while the other had long, dark brown hair tied back in a bun along with a chinstrap beard. Both men were dressed in robes emblematic of the Jedi Order, the graying man in dark brown robes while chinstrap had cream colored.
"Greetings all," the graying man explained, "I am Jedi Master Alucard Dooku. The other Jedi with me is Syfo-Dias and the lady with us is Arla Fett. Master Syfo-Dias and I are the clients."
"Fett," Rav Bralor mused, "Why is that name familiar?"
"Because that's the name of Manda'lor Jaster Mereel's adopted son, Jango Fett" Jace explained, "After Jaster's death on Korda six, Jango apparently was bestowed the title of Manda'lor. He apparently perished in combat against the Jedi on Galidraan."
"Not entirely true," Dooku explained, "Jango Fett was subdued after the battle and imprisoned by Galidraan's Governor. This resulted in him being sold to pirates as a slave."
"You seem to be very informed Master Jedi," Vhonte Tervho noted.
"Because I was there," the Jedi Master replied, "He was the only True Mandalorian to survive the battle. I watched him kill six Jedi barehanded, all because the Governor and Death Watch set us up."
"How do you know he's still alive?" Kal Skirata queried.
"Everything about that fiasco seemed off so I did a little bit of investigating," Dooku answered as he pulled out a holoprojector, "Turns out the Governor left a trail to said pirates."
The Jedi Master then activated the projector. The profile of an Action IV bulk freighter appeared on display. Unlike most ships of it's type, it had extra armaments in the form of two ball turrets, one dorsal and the other ventral nestled in the engine arrays, and some missile launching tubes on the port and starboard sides of the vessel.
"This is the vessel of our target," Syfo-Dias explained, "A modified bulk freighter the goes by Starlight Fortune. Going from what we gleamed from Galidraan, were up against seventy pirates plus a dozen droids and a hundred slaves aboard. Any questions?"
The Mandalorians pondered before Jace decided to ask.
"If you knew where Jango was, why go to the trouble of hiring us?"
"Because when I don't think Jango would be happy to see me," Dooku replied, "I don't want to deal with an unnecessary fight. Plus, I think he would be elated to be rescued by not only his next of kin, but other Mandalorians as well."
Jace nodded as he relaxed, having his question answered.
"What makes us most qualified for this mission?" Skirata asked suspiciously.
"The four of you were at the top of Death Watch's watch-list," Arla answered as she pointed to the older Mandos, "They're keeping tabs on, just in case you started to cause trouble."
The four in question seemed rather shocked about this revelation. The silent questions on weather or not the rest of their clans were safe going through their minds.
"So," Rav Bralor queried, "What plan do you have in mind?"
"Here's what we have in mind," Dooku answered.
With the plan to rescue Jango formulated and the prep work going on, the older Mandalorians decided to do something for their younger comrades. Because Arla, Jeager and the Spaar twins still had the Death Watch colors on their armor, they had to get it repainted to differentiate between them and actual Death Watch members. Jace Lar'ken chuckled as he watched Jeager finish up his armor painting and asked Kal Skirata what he thought of it.
"You seem to be a pretty good mood," a voice behind him stated. The brown haired man turned and was greeted with Arla dressed in her newly colored armor. Most of her armor was colored black and gold. The only exceptions were a gray cuirass and outlines of white on her pauldrons, gauntlets and cheek guards of her helmet. Her semi-wild hair was also styled in a braided top bun and her look of apathy was replaced with a look of charmed content.
"Just amused at the youngsters learning to paint their armor," Jace answered, "Reminds me of when I was in their boots."
"They learn somehow," the woman replied, "Pity Death Watch doesn't hold the Resol'nare in high regards."
'All the more reason to destroy that group of Dar'mandas,'Jace thought bitterly before speaking, "I take it you're surprised that your brother is alive?"
"It is," Arla answered, "Though it makes sense that Death Watch was so quick to get me addicted to chems."
Jace looked her up and down rather confused at this revelation. She lacked any symptoms of such
"You don't look like someone with a chem addiction," he stated in confusion.
"I have the Jedi to thank for that," she replied, "They had a healer passing through heal me from that ailment."
Jace Lar'ken raised an eyebrow at the statement.
"What did the Jetiise healer do?"
"He used his "Force" ability to jump start my immune system and purge the chems from my body," she answered, "Afterwords I wretched into a trash can."
"Hmm, that was nice of him," Jace exclaimed, "What happened to this healer?"
"He left not long after we got the Death Watch's naughty list," she explained, "Had business to attend to on a recently contacted planet on the old Tion Hegemony."
"Interesting," the Mandalorian man answered, "Hopefully Jango doesn't need his services when we find him. Be nice to see him again."
"I didn't know you knew my brother," Arla said in curious tone.
"We served together on the same squad when the True Mandalorians were still operating," Jace explained, "I got separated from the squad on Korda Six. Got knocked out and took a few months recovering form my injuries. After finding out about Galidraan, I decided to try my hand at mercenary work."
"Got any good stories about my brother?"
"I do as a matter of fact. What would you like to know?"
It was dark out when the new recruits finished painting their new sets of armor. Everyone got was in rather cheery mood, with food and drinks were consumed. Jace and Arla still visited as night over took day, pausing for food and drink.
All stopped when a knock on the door. Everyone was on edge with the sudden arrival of a guest. Jace Lar'ken decided to see who it was while grabbing the small holdout pistol on his belt. Everyone else had blasters trained toward the door as it was opened.
They were met with a man wearing Mandalorian armor. Not just armor however, it was colored and marked with decals of the True Mandalorians. As for the wearer, he was unhelmeted and was revealed to be someone Jace knew.
"Silas?"
"Su cuy'gar Jace," the True Mandalorian replied before extending his hand out, "How did you survive Korda Six?"
"The locals didn't do a very good job making sure I was dead," Jace replied as he shuck his fellow True Mandalorian's hand.
"I heard there was a job offering here," Silas stated, "Is there still an opening available?"
"Not sure," Jace answered, "We have to ask the client."