Hello once again everyone.
So, this is the last chapter in this little story arc, I hope that you've all been enjoying it so far.
With the Devaronian taken care of and now Ijaat, Valerie and the Chief are trying not to go down with the ship! So, I won't not keep you waiting any longer now, let us get to it!
As per usual, all credit for this idea goes to Worldwonder and all rights to their owners as I own nothing!
PS: Thank you to Mandalore the Survivor for his help with getting certain elements into place in this chapter.
Ijaat was moving as quickly as he could through the now-dying ship.
As the Mandalorian Patrol was living up to its well-earned reputation, as large areas of the Bloody Talon were now inaccessible thanks to Patrol opening them up to vacuum.
Needless to say, Ijaat was not rating his chances of getting off this floating coffin exceedingly high, especially considering that during his fight with the Devaronian, Ijaat's body glove had been compromised leaving it so that it could not properly self-seal if he were exposed to vacuum.
This of course was a major problem for Ijaat at the moment, as the quickest way to the agreed rallying point had been made mostly inaccessible thanks to the Mandalorian Patrol exposing it to vacuum.
As a result of the actions taken by the Patrol, Ijaat had been forced to go deeper into the ship to find an alternative route.
This was something of a problem for him, as neither Ijaat, Chief or Valerie had the chance to clear these areas, thus leaving them full of defenders.
A fact that was making itself rather apparent to Ijaat, as he then come across a strong-point that was between him and the rally-point.
"Shab, I don't have Kriffing time for this!" Ijaat muttered in frustration, as he then prepared himself to take out this strong point in the ship's defences.
But luck was on Ijaat's side today because just as he was about to begin his assault on the position, did blaster fire come from behind the defenders.
Immediately seeing the opportunity, Ijaat joined in with his blaster fire, as he then advanced using the Beskar shield to cover himself, as he rushed their position.
Once he had closed the distance, he then brought out his beskad to deal with the remaining defenders.
Which was the final nail in the coffin for this areas defenders.
As they couldn't defend themselves while being attacked from both behind and close quarters simultaneously. Things got so bad that one of them even tried to set off an explosive device that would've taken them all out!
But a quick blaster bolt from Ijaat's pistol saw to that issue.
Once that was dealt with and the last defender fell: Ijaat finally turned his attention to see who had helped him.
Needless to say, it came as something of a slight surprise to Ijaat; as he saw the familiar figure of Valerie running to his position.
"Su'cuy Valerie, do you know where the Chief is?" Ijaat asked casually, as he then scanned the area.
"I was hoping that you would have that information. As he is gone Com silent," Valerie explained as Ijaat silently cursed.
As this was exactly the situation he had been hoping to avoid, as with Mandalorian Patrol taking the Talon apart from stem to stern. And given his own personal circumstances, Ijaat would prefer to be far away from the Talon before the Patrol opened this section of the ship to some nice vacuum.
"Stang, any idea as to where you last saw him? As you two should have met up on the way here. Especially considering the fact that the computer core isn't that far from where you were." Ijaat said, pointing out this obvious fact.
Even so, Ijaat knew that there was every chance that the Chief had run into an impassable roadblock like he had and was merrily attempting to reroute to their location.
"This last I hear from him; Chief was making his way out of the ship's main computer core," Valerie explained to which Ijaat cursed.
Because if the Chief did not rejoin them then they would be forced to leave him behind and Ijaat as much as he did not know the man, very much did not want to be the one to explain to his next of kin how the Spartan had died.
As Ijaat knew that depending on what Clan the Chief was associated with; they might take his death very personally.
Which was something that Ijaat wanted to avoid. As his Clan already had enough problems with the New Mandalorian government, the last thing they needed to do was add Clan politics to their long list of problems.
'Fierfex.' Ijaat thought to himself.
As he then weighed up their options, the first and most obvious of which was to attempt to Com him. But considering that Valerie had attempted to do this already Ijaat immediately ruled out that option. The second and most obvious one came to mind, which was simply to wait for the Chief, but if he didn't show up after a certain amount of time, they would be forced to leave him behind.
This was of course the last thing that Ijaat want to do, but given the current circumstances, they also had to look out for their well-being as well. For the Bloody Talon was not going to be able to hold up against the pounding that the Mandalorian Patrol was giving her forever.
Knowing this, Ijaat wanted to check on the status of their ride off this crate.
"Is the Star Hawk still in the hanger?" Ijaat then asked.
This was because he was not aware as to whether the ship was still able to pick them up.
"No, the aruetiess order that I sent the ship away." There was a note of bitterness in Valerie's voice as she said this.
As it was obvious that she did not agree with his decision, even though she understood the reasoning behind it.
"It's probably for the best given the current circumstances." Ijaat begrudgingly acknowledged the fact that the Chief had probably made the right call.
Especially considering Ijaat's circumstances, as he knew that the main way back to the Talon's main hanger bay was now cut off.
As most of the access corridors leading to there were now fully exposed to vacuum. So, he would be unable to return the way in which they came, even so, this did give them another problem they needed to deal with.
Because even if they could call on the Star Hawk to pick them up, there was the obvious problem of Mandalorian Patrol.
As Ijaat knew that they would most certainly shoot the Star Hawk first and ask questions later. Which would be an obvious problem for them if they did somehow manage to get off this crate.
Even so, Ijaat had come up with something of a rough plan to deal with this, but it was heavy depending on whether the Patrol did not vape them before he could get them to listen.
But that was a problem for the future him, as the sound of Valerie's voice brought him back to the present moment.
"Then what's your plan then? As that ship was our only real option." Valerie once again pointed out the obvious.
"Something that doesn't require me to go through hard vacuum," Ijaat said, as he then brought her attention to his compromised suit.
"Stang; that does complicated things," Valerie muttered to herself.
Because this did, as she knew that they would have to take that into consolidation when they were planning their exit strategy. As Ijaat compromised suit this limited their options.
"Not as much as the hanger being opened to hard vacuum," Ijaat then commented, as he scanned the area.
"How did you learn that?" Valerie then asked, as not even she had been aware of this development.
"I saw it on the display on the bridge," Ijaat explained, as during his retreat from the bridge Ijaat had taken a quick glance at the damage control panel.
It had stated that the main hanger bay had been heavily damaged by what Ijaat guessed had been a cluster of Proton torpedos fired into it to ensure that no escape craft could be launched from it. This was an understandable move on the Patrol's part given who they were dealing with; even so, this did complicate their escape plans.
Then again, the Patrol was not aware of their presents aboard the ship, so they could not really hold this against them.
But as Valerie was about to say something to Ijaat, her attention was then drawn to something she had spotted with his helmets 360 view.
With a couple of eye movements, Valerie quickly brought what had caught her attention into focus, and when she used her range finder to zoom in on it and could not believe what she was seeing.
"Tion'cuy?" Valerie muttered to herself as Ijaat then moved his helmet's camera to see what had gotten her attention.
As this was something that neither of them had been expecting. As coming down the hallway was the green-clad Spartan, following closely behind him was a ragtag group of species. Some of them were obvious Mandalorians or ex-security, given how they were positioning themselves around the group to act as protection.
"Who are the aruetiise?" Valerie then asked once the Spartan had reached them.
"Slaves," Chief stated simply, as he finally slowed his pace to a stop.
"Shab, I wasn't aware that you had a heart."
"…" Chief did not respond to this, as he then turned his head slightly to check on the progress of the group that was quickly approaching them.
"So, what made you free them in the first place?" Valerie then asked the question.
"Was a part of the deal with Wookiee; in exchange for freeing them, he would show us where the ship we can us is." Chief then explained.
Ijaat had a couple of questions about this but given how one of the walls just burst into flames he would save them for later. Valerie on the other hand seemed to be more suspicious of this deal that the Spartan had struck with the Wookiee.
"There's more to this isn't there?" Valerie stated.
"…" Chief did not bother to respond.
As there was indeed more to this, but it was John's own business as to what agrees or those, he did not get himself into.
Also, there was the fact that Cortana had been the one to suggest that he consider Wamoshoool's request. Especially considering some of the information she had dug up regarding some of the prisoners.
Which Valerie could confirm that some of them were indeed Mandalorian, at which point John saw the value of rescuing them and the rest of the non-chipped slaves that the Devaronian had on the ship.
Still, this had been a harder choice than John had expected, as once again he was dealing with the fact that despite these people being human. He could not bring himself to see him as part of Humanity or more accurately citizens of the UEG, which he had been trained and raised to protect and die for.
So, to run into humans that were not a part of the UGE made John feel uneasy. As the Spartan had yet to figure out just where humans in this galaxy fitted into his framework regarding his duty, as SPARTAN's were supposed to be Humanity's sword and shield. From threats both from outside and from within.
Even so, John could sort out this feeling later with Cortana, as another explosion rocked the ship as another wall exploded in a show of sparks and fire, all the while something was being torn off the ship, and the sound reverberated throughout the whole ship.
"Might I suggest that we have this conversation, ANOTHER TIME?!" Ijaat cried out just as another powerful blast rocked the ship.
As if to emphasize his point, they did not have time to stand around and talk about things while the ship they were on was quite literally being shot out from under them.
"Agreed," Valerie said, as she tried to avoid falling over.
And to which Chief simply responded with a nod of his head, as the Wookiee: Wamoshoool took the lead.
Knowing that they had little choice in the matter, the two Mandalorians quickly fell in behind the walking carpet. All the while trusting that Wookiee was not simply lying to them about this escape vessel.
The ship once again shuttered under the feet of John, as he and the rest of the group followed the Wookiee to where he claimed that they would find a transport capable of getting them all off this dying ship.
From the reports that Cortana was passing onto him, John knew that the shield on the port side of the Talon had completely failed and was now taking direct fire from the Mandalorian Patrol. For it seemed that their plan was to open the ship to large swathes of the ship to vacuum; something which the Covenant also did with UNSC ships during the war. As they had found it to be the easiest way to disable most UEG ships they came across.
"I just hope that they don't set off all that Baradium before we can warn them." Valerie then commented and they ran.
"This crate has raw Baradium in it!?" The alarm in Ijaat's voice was justified.
As baradium was a highly volatile element used in most explosives across the galaxy. Also depending on what was done to it during the manufacturing process, baradium devices could easily reach a point to wiping out a small fleet wasn't out of the question.
So, considering this fact it was extremely understandable as to why Ijaat was alarmed by this latest information.
"Guess your old burc'ya wanted to give you a final parting gift," Valerie said sarcastically, as the small vanguard of herself, Ijaat, the Chief, and the Wookiee Wamoshoool rounded the corner to find what they had been hoping.
But there was one major issue, as some of the Talon's crew were desperately attempting to open the hatch that supposedly had the ship that would get them off this death trap.
Seeing this and knowing what they were trying to do, everyone in the lead group quickly readied their weapons for combat.
"Get them away from the boarding hatch!" Valerie called out just as Ijaat and Chief ran ahead.
Weapons ready as the two of them worked on taking out those crewmembers currently around the hatch.
Between the Spartan and Ijaat, the whole engagement lasted for less than two minutes, as Valerie saw the last body fall lifeless to the ship's deck just as she reached the hatch.
"Targets down; Ijaat the hatch," Chief said as he scanned the bodies.
Ensuring that there were not any surprises waiting for them. Still knowing that the Scourge might have a dead man switch that might go off any minute, knowing this Chief elected not to move the bodies to save time.
"Give me a moment," The younger man said, as he started to work on the damaged door controls.
As it was obvious that in a last bid to spite their attackers, one of the crew members had put a bolt into the door panel, something which was making Ijaat's life difficult as he cursed.
"They must've jammed it before they fried it! Di'kut!" Ijaat cursed angrily, as he slammed the offending piece of durasteel.
As there was no way that he was going to open this hatch with the damage the control panel had taken. Still, this did not stop Chief from approaching the hatch.
"Cortana is there anything you can do?" Chief then asked her.
"Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do on my end with the controls destroyed. You'll have to open it manually, so did you do your morning stretches?" Cortana quipped, but she was trying to hide her nervousness.
Because she had calculated that if John was not able to get this door open, then in all likelihood they would all end up dead from exposure to vacuum once the Mandalorian Patrol got around to this side of the ship.
A fact that John was also more than aware of, even so, the Spartan could not help but wonder why the Patrol was exposing the ship to vacuum piecemeal.
Then again, this only served to remind him that there was a lot that he didn't understand about this galaxy.
But he was learning enough to know that this was not a standard tactic out here, it might have been for some Covenant commanders back home.
As they found it easier to simply expose a UNSC ship vacuum, killing its crew then outright destroying the craft.
Still, the reason why the Mandalorian Patrol was employing this tactic didn't matter to John, as he knew that once the shield failed on this side of the ship the Patrol was going venting this side of the ship as well.
Knowing this, John then approached the hatch and inspected it for a moment before unleashing a powerful punch into the durasteel. For a moment everyone there was stunned into silence by what the Spartan had just done, as he then removed his fist to reveal an indent that would allow someone to place their hands in between the two hatches.
Without saying another word and with everyone watching him, John then places his hands into the newly formed handholds he had made and slowly and seemingly impossible with just his bare hands slowly forced open the hatch. Ijaat, Valerie and everyone who could see him doing this were once again stunned. For they had not seen nor heard of a man capable of doing that, well most know of a few humanoid species that were capable of such feats of strength.
But no one had expected this man, this Master Chief to be one of those beings capable of doing so.
Still, they all watched, as slowly but surely, the super soldier of the UNSC prided the hatch opened, ensuring that everyone presents could escape the doomed Dreadnought.
Once he had finished opening the hatch, Chief immediately made his way inside and found no danger and waved the rest of those to follow.
Ijaat and Valerie were the first two aboard, and they both then inspected the craft, to make sure that there wouldn't be any issues.
"Where in the Nine Corellian Hells did that sleemo find this?" Ijaat asked himself as continued to inspect the interior of the ship.
"Probably from some antique junk dealer on the rim," Valerie also commented as she started making her way to where the flight controls might be located.
"Cortana?"
"She's right Chief, as this ship has to be at least 4000 years old." Cortana informed him.
"Should I be worried?" Chief then asked her.
As it was a valued question, John knew that old ships, no matter how well they were maintained, were often no matches for their modern counterparts.
Unless they had gotten a serious overhaul to make them viable for the current time, and not knowing anything about the technology of this Galaxy, John knew that Cortana would be the best person to judge whether they could rely on this ship.
"Maybe, but from what I can tell the ships have been worked on recently," Cortana commented.
Translation, this meant that they had a fifty-fifty chance of whether this ship had been refurbished enough to stand up to what it was about to go through.
But given the circumstances and John's legendary luck, Cortana was willing to bet on the side that said that ships had enough work and retrofits to give them a chance of pulling off whatever it was that John's partners had planned.
"So long as it flies, it will suit our needs. Chief bring your Wookiee friend, as me and Valerie will meet you on the bridge." Ijaat said as he started to make his way up one of the ladders that lead to the ship's cockpit.
As the two Mandos had left them, Chief with Wamoshoool made their way back to the hatch that check on the state of the prisoners.
Once they were back at the boarding hatch, Chief informed one of the men of the current situation.
"My two companions have gone to secure the bridge. I'll be joining them once the ship is fully boarded." The Chief explained to one of the Mandalorians that he had been saved from a cell.
"We can handle things from here aruetiise. Get your shab to the ship's bridge; also take that walking carpet with you." The unarmored Mandalorian said to Chief in a way that he understood.
Though what he said could be easily interrupted as disrespectful, from the Marines he had served with John knew that this was nothing more than playful banter.
Well mostly, as he did not know much about insults to Wookiees and how they took such things.
But seeing that there was no point in lingering here any further, Chief gave a simple nod of acknowledgment as he then looked over at Wamoshoool, and with a flick of his head the two of them made their way over to the ladder that Ijaat and Valerie had used earlier to a to the command deck.
Upon seeing the ladder, the Chief paused for a moment before looking over it carefully.
"Well, this might be embarrassing," Cortana quipped, as she was not sure whether the inbuilt ladder would be able to support Chief's weight.
Knowing this John then signalled for Wamoshoool to go ahead of him.
As he saw no point in making him wait while he figured this out.
Once Wamoshoool was atop the ladder, Chief then approached and tested the ladder slightly to see if it would support his weight.
Seeing that the indents build ladder hand holds did not immediately cave in once he put his full weight on them, John quickly followed Wamoshoool up the ladder as the two of them then quickly moved to join back up with Ijaat and Valerie.
All the while John wondered just what kind of blowback he would face on Concordia once word of what he had done got out.
But that was if they survived this, which given the current situation, John was confident that they would do so.
Even so when the two of them reached the ship's bridge, it was obvious that things outside were turning extremely dire. As the Shaadlar had originally been located away from where Mandalorian Patrol had started their attack on the Talen.
But now they were moving onto the other side of the ship, targeting weapon hard points.
Seemingly preparing to board the infamous ship. But both Mandalorians' on board knew exactly what the Patrol was currently doing, as they were simply slagging the ship from stem to stern.
Ensuring that no one onboard the ship would survive the process.
Which only served to give an extra sense of urgency to get this ship detached from the Talon!
"Valerie, you're my Co-Pilot, Chief, Wamoshoool set yourself up at those stations." Ijaat barked as he ran to the pilot's chair.
John, for his part, made his way over to the ship's weapons station.
As his unfamiliarity with the ship's controls would be more of a hindrance anywhere else.
Besides, John knew that between himself and Cortana that they would stand a better chance of them escaping with them stationed at the ship's weapons station, which also had access to the ship's Navi-computer.
"If only they had a chair that could take your weight," Cortana commented on the fact that John would be forced to stand at his station for the majority of the flight.
Which was probably for the best, as no one knew whether all the work on the ship had been fully completed.
But this was something that they were about to find out rather quickly, as Ijaat did the pre-flight checks.
"Wamoshoool, is the Nava-computer working?" Ijaat asked to which Wamoshoool responded with an affirmative growl, as he started to flick switches at his station.
As the Wookiee was warming up systems and getting the Hyperdrive ready should it be needed.
"Okay, are there any problems with the ship's systems Valerie?" Ijaat asked as he began to feed the systems more power.
"Nothing I can pick up so far. But given how old this craft is, I'm just surprised that this me'sen still works." Valerie admitted as she started to bring things online at her co-pilot station.
"Wookiees had a talent for making even Sarlaccs fly," Ijaat joked lightly just as the ship was rocked with the concussion blast of a nearby turbo laser strike.
"Stang, they must've already gotten through the shields on this side of the ship," Valerie commented just as Wamoshoool growled and brought their attention to the ship's scanners.
As painted on the screen were the signatures of at least two dozen Starfighters and their accompanying support craft; all of them on an attack vector, the first rounds contacting the ship's hull around then. Confirming that the shields on this side of that Talon had failed.
Seeing this on his sensor board, Ijaat knew that they could not afford to stay here any longer.
"Switch on the deflectors and release the landing clamps and boarding tube," Ijaat ordered the rest of them as he started to bring the ship to full readiness just as the starfighters opened fire.
"Shields up; weapons?" Valerie then asked as Chief flashed her a thumbs up.
"Not much to work with here, so we might have to get creative Chief." Cortana informed him.
Take note of Cortana's comment, Chief then replied.
"Green." He said flicking a switch that Cortana had identified as an arming switch for the missiles.
"Okay, Valerie the boarding tube?" Ijaat asked as another round of laser fire landed close by the ship.
"Hatches sealed, but it's not fully secure too! Stang," Valerie cursed as a pair of blasts grazed the ships shields.
At which point Ijaat knew that they were out of time, as he started moving the troop ship away from the Blood Talon.
"Secure or not, we're going!" Ijaat said as he continued to push the controls forward.
There was a slight shutter through the craft as it released its landing clamp and started making it into space under its own power.
Still, this did not go unnoticed, as some of the Patrol starfighters immediately started on an intercepted course with the ship. A fact that Wamoshoool pointed out rather quickly, as the scanners showed the starfighters quickly gaining on them.
"This ship wasn't built for speed; we aren't going to outrun them." Valerie pointed out this obvious fact to Wamoshoool just as the Shaadlar shuttered under a laser strike from one of their pursuers.
"No, but it was built to fly through Turbo laser barrage and came out the other side." Ijaat reminded her.
"Your point?" Valerie shot back, as another laser grazed them.
"The point being that we might just survive long enough to win them over," Ijaat stated.
"That's our plan!?" Valerie asked in seeming disbelief.
As she knew that Mandalorian Patrol would blast them out of space rather than risk losing the Devaronian.
"It is unless you have a better one that is?" Ijaat shot back.
To which Valerie did not respond, as she knew deep down that there weren't any other options available to them.
During their time inside the Blood Talon, the ship had apparently drifted into a gravity well. Which meant they couldn't make the jump to hyperspace. Nor could they outrun any of the starfighters making their way toward them.
So, this left them with only one option; trying to make the Mandalorian Patrol confirm their identity. While hopefully not getting vapped in the process.
Which was something of a long shot, but it was the only play they had, as Ijaat opened a hailing channel.
"Mandalorian Patrol, this is the Manda'ade ship," Ijaat then checked the transponder that the transport was running, "Kyr'yc verd." Ijaat read off the transponder in Mando'a hoping that this would get their attention.
For a moment, there was silence on the Com but as those moments of silence passed, four more star-fighters then slotted in behind them. Giving them clear shots should they decide that they wanted to vap the whole craft and be done with it.
But considering that they had not meant someone had heard his Com.
This meant if Ijaat was lucky then someone in the starfighters was talking with the flagship. As to whether they should contact the fleeing troop ship.
'Should' being the key word here, as the Patrol was not known for its sloppiness.
Even so, Ijaat once again gave them another reason as to why they should confirm their identification as he then forwarded his membership to a few Bounty Hunter guilds he was a part of to one of the cruisers.
At which point all they could do was wait, as another pair of blaster bolts contacted the ship's shields.
Hearing his co-pilot curse to herself, Ijaat then adjusted the shields, shifting more power to the back of the ship. So that there was not any risk of them getting overwhelmed too early before they got their response.
This came unexpectedly, as a Com panel cracked to life, and on it was the familiar armor-clad figure clad in instantly recognizable armor of a Mandalorian Patrol office that came onto the screen.
"Kyr'yc verd, this is Adenniyc Lar'ken of the Nynir iviin'yc. We have looked over the documents that you sent us. Still, we request that you confirm that you are indeed Clan Cadera." The Mandalorian on the screen said.
After which Ijaat and the captain of the ship exchange words in Mando'a, from what little Chief could gather from it. Ijaat was explaining that he was indeed from Clan Cadera and that he had been on board the ship to take down the Scourge and claim the bounty on him.
At this point Valerie also joined the conversation, adding her support to Ijaat's claims.
As the three of them continued talking while Chief and Wamoshoool stayed quiet, as the two of them knew that they could not add anything to the conversation.
Still Chief was treating this as an opportunity to learn a bit more of the language like the Historian had advised him to do earlier. Still, before he could ask Cortana something, the conversation then turned as one of the consoles beeped unexpectedly.
"Kyr'yc verd, be advised that are to dock with the highlighted cruiser on your navigation console. Any attempt to deviate from this course and you will be vapped." The Commander of said cruiser informed the crew of the Kyr'yc verd.
"Cortana?" Chief called out to her assessment of the situation.
"Seems that Ijaat managed to convince them to not shoot us down; still, they don't seem entirely sure as to our identity, so I guess they want to land to ensure that we are who we claim to be." Cortana informed him.
"Guess identity fraud is common here," Chief commented.
"Probably but given how everyone here wears armor. It is not surprising honestly," Cortana admitted as much.
Still, this was something the two of them could look further into later, as John was going to need such an identity if he were going to move through this galaxy unhindered. But there were more immediate things on the Spartans' mind, such as where they would be meeting up for this inspection.
"Any idea as to where they're planning to meet?" Chief then asked her.
"If you're worried about being in the blast radius of the Talon, then don't worry. As their rondevu point is far out of any blast range that I'm aware of." Cortana said, as she then bought up a mini-map on the HUD's display.
As it showed that the two ships would be meeting behind one of the nearby planetary bodies in the nearby system. Well, enough away from any risk of an explosion taking out the ship.
"Anyway, caveman you should focus on what Ijaat is saying," Cortana informed the Chief just as Ijaat started speaking to him alongside everyone else currently in the cockpit of the troop ship.
"Now that dealt with, there's the simple matter of setting our accounts." Ijaat brought up the subject.
As he knew that his two partners would want something for all this trouble. He had an idea as to what Valerie might want for this, but as for the Chief…Ijaat could not really read the man.
As such Ijaat was asking this just as much for his benefit as much as it was for the Chiefs.
"So, what's your angle on this?" Valerie asked.
"We talk about splitting the spoils as it were, or if credits aren't to your taste, then something you would like to trade. Within reason of course," Ijaat added this last part.
As he guessed not everyone here wanted credits, he was betting that Wamoshoool would ask for transport to his home world of Kashyyyk. But as to how he could arrange that could be figured out later, Valerie quickly spoke up.
"Simply, I want a fifth of the bounty," Valerie stated, as Concordia was a credit-starved community now.
"We'll talk more about that in private, Wamoshoool?" Ijaat then asked as he was not sure what the Wookiee might want.
For his part, the Wookiee growled saying that his freedom was enough and that he wished to remain with the Chief; as he claimed to have unfinished business with the Spartan.
After which the conversation finally turned to him.
"So, Chief, what is it that you want from all this?" Ijaat asked.
He had been expecting something along the lines of your usual Mandalorian mercenary but was surprised by what the Master Chief wanted instead.
"Simple, I don't want to be identified in any of this." The demands were simply in the Spartans' mind.
As John knew that once word got out about this, and his name was attached he as well could expect his life on Concordia to become rather… difficult with the local Clans.
So, if he could not have his name out there, then Chief would try to do so.
Because even having his name attached to something like this would most certainly draw the unwanted attention of some of the Clans on the moon.
As he, Cortana and the Historian had talked about this at length. And during their talks, John had made it clear to the old man that he was not looking to make any trouble for the Clans on the moon.
But he understood that he might not have a choice in the matter, as he and Cortana could tell that things here are just like in the Republic heading for a showdown between the two factions that were struggling for control of the sector.
Knowing this, Chief fully explained that someone would attempt to use him in their bid for power.
Still, John hoped that this didn't happen any time soon. But time would tell in that regard as he then turned his attention back to Ijaat.
"I can agree to that," Ijaat said as he then looked over at Valerie who nodded her agreement as well, "Still is there anything else, credits? Or something that we can settle with?" Ijaat probed a bit further, trying to understand what the Chief was playing at.
"The ship," Chief stated simply.
As John needed something that he could use to travel this galaxy, and something like this would suit his needs perfectly.
Because the Spartan knew that this old relic wouldn't draw too much attention to itself despite its ago and origin. Also, it had enough storage space for all his needs.
But that would only be after he got the ship worked on, as John knew that he didn't trust some pirate to maintain everything on a slaving vessel.
"You're willing to forgo the credit for this junk?" Valerie sounded a bit suspicious as she asked this.
"…" Chief did not respond to this, but simply nodded his head in response.
As he did not need to explain this to her, as they were at the end of their partnership and as such did not want to explain anything to them anymore, then what he felt was necessary at the moment.
But seeing no reason to get into any more details, Valerie simply dropped the subject.
"It won't us that will be deciding the fate of this ship. That will be up to the Patrol," Valerie informed him.
"Leave that to me," Ijaat said simply, "So are we in agreement?"
To which nod and the Wookiee Wamoshoool roar to confirm this as well.
"I do believe so," Valerie said.
As she did intend to honour this agreement between her, Ijaat, and the Master Chief requested in full.
Because of what Valerie had seen in the brief time that she had fought alongside him. Valerie had come to respect him, and at the same time come to realize just what kind of enemy she had her brother had unintentionally created.
An enemy that did not know that he was sitting with someone that had taken a shot at them.
Starting to feel slightly uncomfortable with being in the same cockpit as the Master Chief: Valerie distracted herself by watching the Mandalorian Patrol vessel grow bigger in the view screen she wonders how long she and Clan Einhherjar had before her, and his brothers' mess finally came back to haunt them.
Because when the Chief finally connected the nav-points, Valerie knew at that point there would be no way to stop him from finding them.
Mando'a dictionary:
Auetiise - Traitor, foreigner, outsider
Beskad – A slightly curved saber made from Mandalorian iron
Su'cuy – Short for Su cuy'gar which translates into Hello and literally means *You're still alive.*
Burc'ya – Friend (also used ironically)
Di'kut – Idiots, worthless individuals, a waste of space
Me'sen - Starship
Nynir iviin'yc - Strike Fast
Kyr'yc verd - Last warrior
Tion'cuy - Who's that? (often used as a challenge to identify someone - like *Halt! Who goes there?*
And that is all she wrote!
I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, even if it was a bit difficult to write. But I did enjoy it. Considering where it will lead.
Also a quick note, I final got Grammerly. The free version, so let me know what you think in the comments and if you want me to go back and run the old chapters through it.
Anyway, until next time have a good one.