So I am back with another chapter, and we get to see what happens with the showdown between Ijaat and the Scourge. Also, to be honest with you all, this is the first time that I have written about this kind of fight scene.

So, any feedback you provide will be much appreciated, anyway let us get on with it shall we.

As always, all credit for the idea for this story goes to Worldwonderer and all those who have helped thus far with the story, you all rock. Also, as per usual, all rights go to their owners as I own nothing!

PS: I am now using Doc 365, so if you can provide me with feedback as to anything new you notice regarding any grammar issues, I would appreciate that.

It had not come as any surprise to Ijaat that his old enemy had sprung into the attack the moment the ray-shield fell. What did surprise him however was just how quickly he seemed to do so.

As Ijaat quickly found himself having to use his beskar shield to defend himself from the Devaronian's lunge, as he then heard the loud screeching sound of duresteel scrapping beskar ring throughout the bridge. As it then dawned on Ijaat that the unhinged barve had intended to impale him on his metal arm!

Realizing this, Ijaat immediately changed his tactics, as he then used his jetpack to create some distance between himself and the unhinged alien.

"Here I thought I was going to have a dual of honour," Scourged said mockingly.

Ijaat did not even bother to respond as he then drew his twin WESTAR blaster and opened fire on the Devaronian. As the barve was not even a Mandalorian, such was not even eligible for such a dual. The only right that sleemo had was that of hunting beast, in which its only right was to be at least allowed to defend itself from its hunter.

Which suited Ijaat just fine, as he was not going to break his code of honour with this hunt.

Especially since Ijaat was not getting paid for this job; no even if he was this was more about avenging a fallen Clan member, the very one that had been tortured and killed by the hands of this low life he was aiming towards, as he continued to send a study stream of blaster bolts the devil's way.

Unsurprisingly the Scourge managed to evade this attack, as the pirate lord had been through too much to be simply brought down by the common blaster pistol. Especially considering that he had already lost half his face and limbs to the man currently flying around his ship bridge on his jetpack.

Even so, the Devaronian had already adjusted his plans for how to deal with Ijaat's latest tactic. As he then returned fire from cover while keeping on the move, to ensure that Ijaat could not get an angle on him while he flew around the bridge on his jet pack.

"You really should've come alone Mando. As I will take great pleasure in killing you burc'ya once I've killed you!" The Scourge proclaimed, either knowingly or not knowing the words of Mando'a that he was using.

Ijaat did not care, as he knew that the Devaronian had chosen them to get his blood boiling. Even so, he did choose to retaliate for this insult with his flamethrower. As Ijaat then drove the maddened Devaronian before him, using the flames to force the Devaronian from one spot of cover to another; playing on his fear of fire that he had exploited once before.

"I should say the same thing, but I won't kill your crew for sport." Ijaat mocked him as he continued to pressure the Devaronian with his flamethrower.

But as he did so Ijaat knew that he had to limit its usage, as the fuel that was being used by his flamethrower was the very fuel that was powering his jet pack. As such he had to use the weapon sparingly now because if he kept up at this rate Ijaat would run out of fuel before he slotted the target.

Though it seemed that the Devaronian had had enough of Ijaat's tricks, as the Scourge of the Corporate Sector turned to face his foe.

"I ALSO HAVE TRICKS OF MY OWN IJAAT!" The mad pirate lord cried out as he then brought further his mechanical arm.

Moments later it opened revealing the large arm cannon that had been tucked inside the artificial limb, of course, such a device was highly illegal in Republic space, but here in the Outer Rim of the galaxy it was just an unpleasant fact of life.

A dangerous fact that was currently aimed squarely at an alarmed Ijaat, as he was scrambling to identify just what weapon the Scourge had built into his replacement arm.

Still, it would become rather obvious what kind of weapon it was quickly once the Scourge fired it, as a small spread of tracking missiles came screeching towards him.

Knowing that he could not avoid them all, Ijaat immediately started evasive flying all the while he tried to shoot down as many of the potent armaments with his one blaster, while he put the other away and reach for the beskar shield on his back. As Ijaat knew that he was going to need to use it very shortly, as he continued to pour a study stream of fire towards the small group of projectiles that were rapidly closing in on him.

But as you might expect, Ijaat was not having the best of luck trying to shoot down things of that size. But despite this, he had managed to shoot down at least three of the eight incoming projectiles that were still locked onto him.

The only reason he was still even alive at this point was his pure skill with his jetpack. For he used every trick in the book to buy himself time so that he could come up with a plan to deal with the rockets that were still tracking his every move.

'Shab!' Ijaat thought to himself as he then realized that he had lost track of the Devaronian.

But he would have to worry about him later, as he had taken down another rocket which left only left four of them to deal with. Still, this did not change the fact that the remaining rockets were closing on him fast and that he was running out of options to deal with them.

So, knowing this Ijaat hatched a hastily thought-out plan as he knew that this would be the only move left available to him before the missiles caught up with him. So, preparing himself, Ijaat then turned and prepared to throw his borrowed shield into the missile's path. Not knowing if his gamble would work but considering the alternative Ijaat was more than willing to take the risk as he let them approach closer knowing that he would only get one shot at this.

'Now!' Ijaat thought as he then threw the shield and immediately started flying away from the explosion he knew was to follow.

Ijaat did not so much as see the missiles explode, as he was too busy trying to keep himself from being absorbed by the fireball that had followed their detonation. But he was certain that the homing missiles had been dealt with.

Still, this did not change the fact that he needed to take a moment to rest and get his bearings; as in all the confusion, he had lost both his target and the sense of where he was on the bridge.

But that to a moment of confusion was quickly broken by the sound of a heavy repeating blaster opening up on him. As Ijaat once again found himself on the receiving end of a volley of blaster bolts.

Not even having the time to figure out where this attack was coming from, Ijaat immediately started taking evasive action. This allowed him to escape the situation; mostly unsaved, though Ijaat did take some hits.

A couple of the heavy repeating blaster shots did find their mark, though what they hit was either hid Beskar'gam or his body glove that was made to take a couple of shots before failing.

But what came next was something of a nasty shock, as Ijaat then heard the sound of a grenade launcher being used.

"Kriffing Barve," Ijaat cursed under his breath as he began flying evasively to deal with this new threat.

But unlike before, Ijaat was now tired and was not in his best form. So, he didn't realize just what the Devaronian was attempting to do until already too late!

"SON OF A-!" The curse was just starting to leave Ijaat's mouth as the grenade contacted the bulkhead behind him.

As Ijaat then found himself being thrown forward by the blast, but before he could crash into any hard surface old muscle memory kicked in and with a couple of quick moves aided by his jetpack; Ijaat managed to land on the deck without breaking any bones.

Still, he had little time to celebrate this fact as he then realized that the Devaronian was already closing in on his position.

As the pirate lord then papered his position with a hail of blaster and grenade fire once he was in range.

Immediately forced a still have dazed Ijaat to scramble for cover, as the Mandalorian came to realize that it was going to be more difficult than he originally thought to deal with the Devaronian this time round.

Even so, Ijaat then readied his two blasters as he then started to return fire on his attacker.

Valerie had just finished putting down the last few personnel that had been protecting the weapon controls. Check to ensure that they were all down; Valerie then made her way over to the still active control station.

As she had been extra careful while she had been placing her shot out of fear of damaging the important systems that she needed to gain access to. But it seemed that all time spent practicing her aim was not wasted after all, as she then accessed the controls for the Bloody Talons' weapon systems.

"Okay, let's see what we're dealing with here," Valerie muttered to herself as she scrolled through the system.

As it gave her lots of information that Valerie did not need, such as the make and model of the weapons, energy output and other such useless information, that was until she finally came across what she was looking for.

Upon finding it Valerie immediately started looking for the controls for the energy output to the Bloody Talons' main weapons, but as she did so Valerie then came across the live sensor feeds from one of the turbo lasers.

She tapped into it, uncertain if this had any connections to the weapons' main power supply, but the moment she did so Valerie got a most unwelcome surprise.

"Shab!" Valerie then cursed herself, as she realized that this whole mission had just gotten even more complicated.

Because now being shown on the display screen in front of her were at least eleven or twelve ships of what she quickly identified as the Mandalorian Patrol.

A Patrol that Valerie was in no way happy to see, especially since she was currently on the ship that they were going to be engaged momentarily.

Realizing this Valerie opened her Com to Chief. Not even caring if any transmissions might be tracked to her location. As the giant green needed to know what was taking place outside.

"Go Valerie," The Spartan stated simply.

Taken aback by the Chief's bluntness, Valerie then recovered quickly as she knew that relay the situation to her only available partner.

"I'm at the main controls for most of the weapons on the port side of the ship. I was going to disable them and the rest of the ships' weapons, but we have another problem to worry about." She then explained, but before she could tell the Spartan what that compaction was, he responded.

"The Mandalorian Patrol?" Chief then asked, once again taking Valerie by surprise.

'Just how did he?' The question formed in Valerie's mind before she returned to the task at hand.

As Valerie could always ask as to how he had learned about this later. If she worked up the courage to ask the Spartan mind you.

"Yes, as there are at least seven ships now on an intercept course with the Talon," Valerie informed the Chief.

"Understood, what options do we have available to deal with this?" He then asked her.

"For starters, I doubt that they would believe that they would take any transmissions from the ship seriously, given the Scourge records of falsifying such things to lure in rescue ship only to turn the tables on them," Valerie explained.

This was why most bounties that were placed on the Devaronian's head usually marked him for dead. As it was simply too dangerous to try and bring him alive given his proven abilities.

"What other options are currently available?" The Spartan then asked.

"Give me a minute," Valerie said.

She didn't even wait for the Chief's reply as she quickly started scanning the terminal's menus, trying to figure out just what options were available to them in this situation.

After a couple of minutes of looking, Valerie narrowed down the list to two feasible options they implement given their current circumstances.

"The first option we have is for me to disable all the weapons on either the port or starboard side of the ship. If you don't like that idea, then..." Valerie started to explain their second option before Chief cut her off.

"What angle is the Patrol coming in at?" Chief then asked.

In response to this question

Valerie checked the display panels and found the information she needed.

"They're coming in on the port side." She then informed him.

"Understand; disable all weapons on the port side of the ship," Chief said, as Valerie looked for controls necessary to do what he said.

But just as she found them, Valerie then realized that there was a complication with this plan: a big one in fact.

"Chief, we have a kiffing problem." Valerie silently fumed as she said this.

Wondering why the galaxy couldn't give them a break.

"Explained the compaction," Chief then asked calmly, unfazed by Valerie's sudden outburst.

This was a great quality to have in a leader, as Valerie's respect for the man went up a bit, but so did her fear of him. As she knew that soon or later, she would be forced to face him. In what form the conflict took, she could only guess.

But this was not the time to be distracted by things unrelated to the job. As not only her life at the stack, but that of her mission partners as well alongside any of her fellow Mando'ade current trapped on this ship.

"It seems the Scourge or someone that was working for linked all the systems together in one network. So, I can't disable one part of it without being down the whole system with it." Valerie explained the situation to the Spartan.

To which there was a long notable pause from her Com-link, as she assumed that Chief was mulling over feasible options in his head. But then again, she could hear the blaster fire in the background as that pause could have been used by the Spartan to deal with this issue, as he finally responded after the sound of blaster fire died down on his end.

"Is there any chance you can take down these systems individually?" Chief then inquired.

"No, you would have to attempt to do so from the ship's main computer core to have a chance," Valerie replied swiftly.

"Understood, I'm just about to breach the room to the computer core. Wait for me to gain access to it and inform me if anything changes on your end once I have access." Chief said as the sound of an explosion could be heard through the COM.

As Valerie instantly recognized it as the sound of a breaching charge, which was quickly followed by the sound of blaster fire, Valerie was certain that the Chief was undoubtedly now fighting his way to the control station in the ship's computer core.

Knowing this, Valerie knew that all she could do at this moment was simply wait until the Spartan had gained access to the Talons computer core.

Even so, that didn't mean that Valerie was not going to be idle in those few minutes it would take for the Chief to reach his objective.

As she then heard a sound coming from the other side of the room, at which point Valerie realized what she had heard.

'Stang!' Valerie silently cursed herself as she then saw that the blast door, she had come through earlier was slowly starting to open.

Not wasting a moment, Valerie immediately reached into one of her side pouches and pulled out a thermal detonator. The small sphere rested ready to go in her hand, as she tried to figure out a way that she could slip it through the doorway before it opened completely.

Because if she did this right then Valerie might be able to take care of this problem before it devolved into a blaster duel.

Knowing this Valerie then studied the growing gap in the doorway.

As the gap and the bottom of the door were currently no bigger than four of her fingers put together. Still, Valerie knew that this was to change quickly as she quickly tried to figure out just how she could slip the thermal detonator through the gap without those on the other side returning it to her.

Because Valerie was not ready to join her aliit in the afterlife just yet, as she still had to deal with the mess her brother had made.

She guessed that if she were not there when the Chief finally came for her brother, her Clan would not survive the fight that was to follow.

Which some might have called an overreaction, but from what Valerie had seen of the man she indeed believed that he could do it.

Knowing this, Valerie felt if she died on this ship then her Clan would surely follow.

'We didn't endure the Shabbing, dar'manda to have it end like this.' Valerie thought with determination knowing that she would see her through this, as she continued to study her options.

At which point it clicked for her, as she then brought out her disrupter.

Though not as powerful as most of its other disrupters on the 'market' it did have something most of the others lacked.

A secondary firing mode was something that Valerie planned to use to her full advantage. As she then made a quick adjustment to the weapons firing setting, as she did not want to accidentally make any holes that her guest could exploit.

Still, Valerie knew that she had to wait for the right moment to open fire.

As she aimed the disrupter at the blast door the gap below it continued to grow bigger. Valerie then took a moment to ensure that her disrupter was on the correct firing setting. Because if this plan were to work then she needed whoever was out there to be away from the blast door the moment she threw the detonator through the gap.

That way she could ensure that there was little chance that whoever was on the other side could react in time to kick the sphere back out the doorway. Which she wanted to avoid for obvious reasons, as Valerie knew she would get only one shot at this.

A shot was rapidly approaching, as the gap in the door had opened enough that she could see what she thought were the boots of the being on the other side. Seeing this and knowing she could not hold off any longer, Valerie opened fire with her disrupter.

The first shot easily cut through the duresteel door and caught whoever was on the other side of the door.

As Valerie then heard what she assumed to be a scream followed by everyone still alive diving for cover; which was exactly what she had been hoping for.

So, without a moment of hesitation, she then armed the thermal detonator and threw it through the gap, after which she immediately hit the door override.

Slamming them completely shut, moments later the sphere detonated!

Killing whoever might have been on the other side, still Valerie knew that there might be some survivors out in the corridor. Knowing this and not wanting to deal with them, Valerie then levelled her disrupter, switched its settings, and put a couple of bolts into the door controls.

As she then ran over to her workstation and rerouted the door controls to that consul, ensuring that no one outside of this room could gain access to it with her input.

"Valerie, status report; as I have reports of an explosion in your area," The Spartans voice then came cracking across her Coms.

As Valerie guessed that he had reached the computer core, but not entirely without issue as she could hear blaster bolts in the background of Chief's Com.

Even so, Valerie responded quickly to the Chief, knowing it would not be good for anyone if he thought she was dead.

"Sorry Chief, but I had some unexpected guests. I was forced to deal with them, after which I had to fry the door controls." Valerie informed the Spartan.

"Understood, I'm at the computer core now. Let me know if anything changes on your end." Chief said as he prepared to plug Cortana into the Dreadnought main computer system.

But even though John knew that Cortana could easily bypass any firewalls or security systems that were currently in place he could not help but find himself hesitating to plug her data-chip into the ships' systems.

But this hesitation was quickly forgotten when two blaster blots impacted John's shield; reminding the Spartan about his current situation, as he then plugged Cortana's data-chip into the terminal and then turned to return fire on his attackers.

Under normal circumstances, John would not have even hesitated in plugging Cortana into the ship's systems.

But this situation was unlike most others, which made John rather hesitant about being separated from Cortana for two obvious reasons.

The first and most obvious was that if anything were to happen to the consul, then extracting Cortana could become a major problem.

Which of course lead to Chief's secondly and probably the most personal reason as to why he was a bit hesitant to let her go.

Which was the fact that Cortana was pretty much his only lifeline in this galaxy. As the Spartan didn't have anyone that he knew he could rely on, let alone fully trust considering just how far out his was.

So, to lose her would not only be a blow to his chances of being able to survive in this galaxy until pick up but losing Cortana would also be a blow to himself.

As John would lose that one person who he could fully trust, and plan something with him with whatever was at hand.

Still, this didn't mean that John wouldn't be able to survive without his trusted AI, but he would not exactly be thriving either.

Even so, he would get along without her, but John had made a promise that he would not let her go to the late Sergeant Johnson.

This was a promise he intended to keep, as he and his new Wookiee ally continued to take down the guards that continued to pour into the room, while Cortana made quick work of the ships' security systems.

Once these defences were down, Cortana immediately began to plunder the system for information, while at the same time attempting to do what she could to help Valerie's current situation.

Cortana did what she could, but given the alien hardware, the UNSC smart AI could do only so much as she continued to learn from each interaction she had with every computer-based technology in this galaxy.

But despite these difficulties, Cortana did manage to detangle most of the ships' systems from one another. But this process was not entirely perfect; mostly because she was simply because of her lack of familiarity with this galaxy's electric and computer system. Even so, this was to change soon enough; but at this moment Cortana was still handicapped when it came to moulding and changing electrical systems to suit her needs.

But despite those handicaps, she was still able to do what was needed, a fact that was reflected in the control panel that Valerie was using.

"Whatever you did on your end opened up the system Chief. Still, some of the systems are linked together despite everything." Valerie informed him, as she found that he responded best to simply reports of the situation at hand.

"Can you at least disable the Turbo lasers on your end?" The Chief then inquired.

"Not without taking the Ion cannons offline as well, that will leave only the point defence laser cannons as their only offensive weapon." Valerie then informed him.

At which point the Com line went quiet, all that could be heard in was background was the sound of an ongoing firefight and the growls and roars of an extremely irritated Wookiee.

"Understood, take them offline, leave the point defences online," Chief then order.

As the Spartan knew that this was the best compromise, he was going to get considering their current situation.

"Understood, shutdown the Ion cannons and Turbo lasers now. Let's just hope that this doesn't cost too many lives," Valerie muttered this last part under her breath.

Despite their situation, Valerie did not relish the fact that they had to choose between their survival and the lives of her fellow Mando'ade. But considering the situation, there was no winning whatever choice she made.

Knowing that Valerie went on with the choice, she knew it would give them the most time. Because she, like most residents of the Mandalorian sector, knew the reputation of the Patrol and if they indeed lived up to it, then they would need every second they could squeeze from those point-defence laser cannons.

"Understood, also have the Star Hawk leave once you're done." Chief then instructed her.

Valerie was once again surprised by the Chief's sudden request, as she had not been expecting this, for the simple reason that the Star Hawk was their only way of escaping this ship.

Which of course led Valerie to ask an obvious question.

"You do realize, that me'sen is the only ride we have off this create?" Valerie reminded the Chief of this fact.

"Wamoshoool claims that there's another ship that we can use." The Chief then informed her.

"What, a space yacht? We'll be lucky to just take off before getting vapped." Valerie replied skeptically, as she did not trust that anything short of a military-grade vessel to be able to survive the blaster-happy Patrol that would not hesitate would blow up any ships that attempted to escape from the Dreadnought.

"He claims it's a troop ship that he worked on for the Devaronian's slave operations." The Spartan then informed her.

This changed things, because if this were indeed the case then they would have had something they could use to escape the ship. Even so, there was one obvious question to all this.

"Any reason as to why we can't get the Hawk to come and pick us up?" Valerie inquired.

"For the same reason as why the Blood Talons going to be attacked. As the ships still running a Death Watch transponder," Chief stated simply.

As Valerie was once again reminded about Chief memory, and attention to detail because she was forced to admit that he was right on that account. The Patrol had a reputation that preceded them and depending on just who you were this often meant that they would shoot first and ask questions later.

A fact that very much applied to a Death Watch transport and considering who was at the controls of the ship; so, attempting to ask them to make a pickup would be asking them to commit suicide.

So as much as Valerie hated to admit it, the Chief did have a point.

Besides she and Ijaat would have a better time than anyone else here in attempting to have the Mandalorian Patrol stand down and board their ship.

This was honestly the best outcome Valerie could think of regarding this kriffing situation they were in.

"I'll transmit the order to them once I've finished up here. Let me know what my next move should be."

"Once I've finished here, we'll meet at the rally point; after which Wamoshoool will lead up to the ship." Chief then explained.

Which Valerie knew was a long shot but considering the situation, she knew that they had no choice but to trust the Wookiee.

"Understood, Valerie out," Valerie said, as she then cut the link.

As she immediately went back to the consul in front of her, Valerie then brought the heavy-duty Turbo lasers offline, at which point she opened her Com.

Not caring if it could be traced.

"Star Hawk come in, this is Valerie," Valerie said as she called the ship.

"This is the Star Hawk; what is it vod?" The voice of the teen that made their getaway pilot replied.

"There's been a change in plans. You're to leave immediately, as there's a Mandalorian Patrol fleet closing in on our position." Valerie then explained the situation to their getaway pilot.

He took the information in muted silence, undoubtedly understanding what this meant for them.

Even so at the end of Valerie's explanation, he did ask the one question that any good pilot would ask given the situation they were in.

"What about you? Won't you need us to come around for a pickup?" The pilot asked her.

"No, Chief says that he has a way that we can escape," Valerie explained to them.

"Understood Valerie, we'll see planet side then. ret'urcye mhi Valerie," The pilot said in goodbye.

"Ret'urcye mhi," Valerie replied in kind knowing that they might never see one another again.

She then watched as the ship appeared on the weapons targeting displays, seeing this Valerie then powered down all the ship's weapons so that the Star Hawk could escape unmelodious. Only after it was at a safe range did she return power to those weapons that she the Chief had decided to leave online.

But while she was doing this, Valerie then heard a sound coming from the doorway behind her.

At this point, she brought up the view from the doorway behind her and saw what she had been expecting to see for a while now.

"Kriffing Sleemos," Valerie muttered under her breath, as she then turned off her Com-link.

As Valerie knew that she had little time before whoever was on the other side breached the door, she then placed a chip into one of the slots in the control panel, which would automatically trigger the system to go into lockdown.

Once that was complete Valerie then locked down the whole control station as well, then once that was done, Valerie finally turned her attention to preparing to deal with the Talon's security forces currently cutting through the door behind her.

'Let's make sure I have a chance.' Valerie thought to herself as she then brought out another small explosive device that was more meant for crowd control, and in this case setting up traps.

Valerie didn't know just how many security personnel were on the other side of the door, but what she did know however was the fact that it would not be long until they fully cut through the doorway.

Even so all Valerie cared about at this point was just how long they were going to take to get the door opened.

As she didn't want to be waiting too long for them to make her escape route. While she waited, Valerie did one last check of her weapons as the steams of lights came together.

When they did the door came exploding into the room moments later, as the doorway entrance erupted into a hail of blaster fire and explosives.

At which point Valerie returned fire on her attackers, as she silently hoping that she would be able to escape this room in a timely matter so that she met up with the rest of her traat'aliit, and hopefully get off this create before they were all vapped with it.

Things were not going well for Ijaat, as he quickly found himself once again flying into one of the ships' nearby displays.

As he had lost his jetpack earlier when the cyborg had ripped it clean off his back.

Thus, robbing him of his biggest advantages against the Devaronian.

But that was the least of his problems, as Ijaat quickly rolled off the control panel that he landed on.

As he didn't want to test how well his armour would be able to protect him from blunt force trauma, especially since he just saw that Scourge's mechanical arm punched a hole clean through the control panel he had just been on.

But despite avoiding that attack, the roll that had allowed Ijaat to avoid that punch had unfortunately placed him at the feet of the Devaronian cyborg.

Seeing this the Devaronian did not even waste a moment, as he then brought one of his knees into the downed Mandalorian.

But despite attempting to avoid the attack; Ijaat still took a glancing blow that throw him back and once again placed him on the defensive.

But this was not to last long, as an unexpected interruption came when the ship underneath them shuttered violently under what Ijaat recognized as the incoming strike of a Turbo laser blast.

The unexpected development distanced the Devaronian for long enough that Ijaat was able to escape from his predicament, as he quickly rolled away and managed to put some distance between the two of them.

Still, this fact did not prevent the Devaronian from trying to take another swing at Ijaat with his cybernetic leg.

But by the time he did so, Ijaat was already clear by the time the leg came through.

This gave Ijaat the moment he needed to get back on his feet, but only moments after he had gotten his legs under him did Ijaat quickly find himself trading blows with the Devaronian.

At which point he managed to land a couple of solid punches into an area that Ijaat had managed to injure earlier in their fight.

The fact that Devaronian didn't even flinch from this alarmed Ijaat. As for his troubles, Ijaat received a couple of strong punches, and if not for the protection of his armour would have ended the fight there and then.

At this point, Ijaat realized something he should have figured out at the start.

"You're on shabbing combat sims aren't you; you hut'uun." Ijaat was insulted by this.

Then again Ijaat was not surprised that the Devaronian had attempted to rig the fight in his favour.

"Who cares what I'm using, as all I care about is killing YOU!" The drugged-up crime lord roared as he then threw himself at the target of his contempt.

Ijaat attempted to pray against this latest attack but quickly found himself overpowered.

For a moment Ijaat thought about using his beskad, but quickly discard the idea as he knew it would find its way into his guts given how this fight was going.

As every attempt to prey an attack from the Devaronian was simply overpowered, Ijaat found him being forced back until his guard was not fast enough and the Devaronian found an opening and moved in for the kill.

Grabbing the Mandalorian by the throat and started to squeeze it shut.

As he was seemingly content to watch the life slowly being choked out of him!

"This ends the way that I always envisioned it," There was a smug look of sadistic joy on the devil's face as he said this, "As I would be able to watch the life leaving your eyes!"

Ijaat could not respond to this as he was trying to figure out a way out of this situation, as he did not have any weapons that were in close reach.

That was until he then brushed upon the odd weapon Chief had given him. At this point, he knew that it was the only option he had left.

So as Ijaat slowly moved his hand towards the weapon, he did every he could make sure that the Scourge didn't notice what he was doing.

"So, this is how you planned. *Gasp* to finish this. Why, not *Gasp* an airlock?" Ijaat asked the Devaronian as he started holding down the trigger of the weapon that he had been given.

"Where's the sport in that?" The mockery was plain to hear in his voice as he said this.

"I, I," *Gasp* *Gasp* Ijaat's vision was starting to get dark around the edges.

Ijaat knew that was going to blackout at any moment. But though this was all he could hear the hum of the weapon that Chief had given him through it all.

The Scourge finally noticed it as well, knowing at this point Ijaat knew that he could not hide the hum of the weapon any longer.

In a last desperate move, Ijaat somehow found the strength to raise the strange weapon at the Devaronian; he released the trigger as a ball of green energy raced towards the cyborg and hit him!

But this effort seemed to be for nothing!

As when the ball of green energy hit the Devaronian's replacement arm, it did not do anything other than leave a nasty scar on the machinal arm, while the rest of the green energy seemingly absorbed harmlessly into the cyborg's arm.

Still, the sudden surprise of Ijaat's attack had managed to free him from the Devaronian grasp allowing him to breathe once again.

But was not to last however, as the Devaronian immediately recover from this surprise and was right back on him, once again managing to regain his death grip on Ijaat, at this point ready to finish what he started without the drawn-out death that he wanted.

But it was not to be, because just as his fingers started to wrap themselves around Ijaat's neck and seemed ready to crush his windpipe did Ijaat notice that the Scourge's grip began to slacken as the Devaronian tried to understand just what the Mandalorian had done to him!

"WHAT? NO! THIS CAN'T, YOU COULDN'T HAVE!?" The Scourge cried out, as he still tried to make sense of why his cybernetics had failed him.

But he would never get the chance to figure it out, as the bounty hunter was already on him!

Without so much as a word and ceremony; Ijaat then brought up the strange weapon that had just saved his life to bear. And with a signal pull of the trigger, he then sent a bolt of super-heated plasma right into the chest of the cyborg.

After which he then practically threw his Beskad blade into the Devaronian's head. Ensuring that any cybernetic that might restart his vital organs were completely useless.

With that done, Ijaat finally allow himself to rest, as he had finally put down the demagolka of not only the Outer Rim and that of his Clan.

But sadly, the hunter could not savour his victory, as the ship once again shook violently underneath his feet. As alarms from those control screens that had not been ruined in the fighting now showed that the Dreadnought shields were now failing and that certain areas of the hull were now taking direct fire from enemy ships.

Cursing at least several curses under his breath, Ijaat then looked over the bridge controls to see if there were any active Coms that he could use.

But seeing that the whole area that was responsible for that was destroyed by their fight and knowing full well that any transmission that he would attempt to make to the Patrol would be most likely ignored; Ijaat knew he had no other option but to regroup with Chief and Valerie and try to find a way off this doomed hulk.

"Chief, Valerie, the Devaronians has been dealt with. What is our current situation with our extraction?" Ijaat asked over open Com, as he left the still-cooling body of the terror of the Corporate Sector to meet the same fate of his infamous ship.

While Ijaat tried to ensure that he had his companion avoid sharing in its fact. As he exited the secondary bridge and started making his way to the meet-up point.

Mando'a dictionary:

Beskar – Mandalorian Iron

Beskad – A slightly curved saber made from Mandalorian iron

Beskar'gam - armor

Demagolka – Someone who commits atrocities, a real-life monster, a war criminal - A figure of hate and dread in the Mando psyche

Traat'aliit – Squad, team

Vod – brother, comrade, *mate*, sister

Me'sen –Starship

Hut'uun - coward (worst possible insult)

Burc'ya – Means friend and can be used ironically

Ret'urcye mhi - Goodbye - lit. *Maybe we'll meet again*

Dar'manda – A state of not being Mandalorian - not an outsider, but one who has lost his heritage, and so his identity and his soul - regarded with absolute dread by most traditional-minded Mando'ade

Mando'ade – Mandalorians (Pl) - sons and/ or daughters of Mandalore

Shab – Short for shabiir, meaning screw up or screwed up

Aliit – family (Clan)

And that is all she wrote; I hope that it met your expectations.

Also, sorry if this seemed a bit of a wasted opportunity, as to be honest with you all, this was my first attempt at doing something like this. So, if it shows in my work I apologize.

As such let me know the good and the bad and I will try my best to take it into account in my future chapters.

Anyway, that is it for today, and until next time, have a good one.