So, I am back with the last chapter in this opening arc, as we get to see John face off against Demir to see the future of Clan Dyra.

It should be an interesting contest to watch at the very least, anyway, let us get to the main reason why you are all here.

As usual, all credit for this idea goes to World, and all rights go to their owners as I own nothing!

The moment the countdown had finished, Demir immediately opened with his duel heavy blaster pistols. Laid down some suppressing fire while making some distance between him and the SPARTAN.

Because from the information Demir had been able to gather, he knew that if he could drag this contest out long enough, that he might be able to pull a win from this. But despite knowing this, he and John knew the truth of the matter.

As the winner of this contest would be the person who could hit their opponent the hardest and the fastest.

This meant that John had the immediate edge in that respect, but Demir had ensured that this contest would be that of accuracy. Having already put as much distance between himself and John as possible. Now all Demir could hope for was that he managed to drag this out long enough that an opening he could use came his way.

But such thoughts would have to wait, as, after rolling clear of his first volley of fire, John finally replied with his own.

Still, Demir had to respect the man for bringing a slug thrower to a Blaster fight. Even so, Demir immediately figured out why this was, as with seemingly superhuman accuracy the SPRATAN landed the first few shots.

But despite this, his heavier choice of armour was already showing itself to be the correct one. Those first few rounds simply bounded harmlessly off the armour shell.

Reassured that his choice of armour could stand up to the punishment the SPARTAN could dish out, Demir immediately went to the offensive. Well, he would've if it were not for two slug rounds impacting his visor.

For a moment, Demir staggered back, taken completely by surprise. But a moment later he recovered and realized what had happened. It was now made obvious that he could not stay still, not even for a second. As he then fired up his jet pack once again and started making himself as hard a target to hit as he could.

'Shab, this kriffing son of a Hutt can aim.' Demir silence cursed to himself as he continued to return fire.

But the two bullets now lodged in his visor were making it rather different to aim.

For a brief moment, Demir thought about removing his visor and fighting without it.

But that thought died as quickly as it had come, for he knew that was just as good as commenting suicide, as he did not double that the moment he did so, the SPARTAN would not fail to place a round through such an obvious target.

So, he would continue this fight with the disadvantage, as he continued to shower the Chief with blaster bolts.

Most of which missed on account of John's rolling clear of his attack and returning fire. This pattern continued for at least two minutes, as the two of them tried to find a way to break this stalemate. That was until Demir got a good couple of shots off.

He managed to predict which way the SPARTAN would roll to avoid his next attack. Sending a couple of rounds his way, the first few missed their target, but the last four found their mark!

As Demir was rewarded for his efforts by the sight of the SPARTANS' shields popping, as the yellow-gold energy danced around certain areas of his armour, trying to reestablish the shield to full strength.

But Demir was not able to capitalize on this opportunity, as John immediately returned fire. Still, the leader of Clan Dyra made a mental note of this. Still, he was not sure how much good this would do him considering who he was currently fighting against.

But then again, he had not known the SPARTANS' shield strength.

With that information now in hand he could start planning a way that he could win this contest. Still, this plan would depend heavily on his ability to keep himself alive in the meantime.

But John would have something to say about this. As he saw that his MA5C assault rifle was no longer having the effect he wanted, as such John finally switched over to the other weapon, he had brought with him for this occasion.

In any other situation, he would have considered it a waste of resources. But here, it was a matter of survival. Because losing the fight here meant death, as such John would use every trick in the book that fell within the rules of engagement for this particular situation.

As John then opened up with his plasma rifle, taking Demir somewhat by surprise by the Chief's sudden change in weapons. Demir did his best to avoid this unexpected change from his attacker.

But like before with the assault rifle, some of the shots managed to land. Though it did not have much of an effect on him as beskar'gam was known to take lightsaber blows and prevent penetration, Demir still felt the effect.

As the leader of Clan Dyre quickly realized that whatever weapon that Chief had on him was throwing a ball of pure plasma at him!

A weapon so rare that it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see one in action. But unfortunately for him, Demir found himself on the receiving end of it. And because of that the old man quickly found himself having to change his strategy yet again, as all his energy was now being devoted to the defensive.

As despite knowing that his Beskar'gam could survive a hit from the Chiefs' weapon, Demir himself was not sure of that. As every time one of those balls of blue energy slammed into him, he would then feel the heat through the armor. As if it were roasting him alive, for he felt the same pain from some of those plasma shots that reminded him of when he had an accident with his flamethrower that one time.

Which meant that he had to end this, now!

Before he was either cooked alive in his armour or worse, the Kriffing SPARTAN managed to put one of those plasma blots into his visor. As there was no way that it could repeal that sort of attack, at least not in its current state.

'Time to gamble,' Demir thought to himself.

Because as much as he might hate to admit it, his only chance now lay within a close gunfight with the Chief. Despite the obvious risks, Demir knew that his attacks would have a better chance to hit their make.

Also getting closer would allow him to start bringing some of the other weapons he had been holding in reserve in case such a situation arose.

Still, Demir knew that he had to be careful as to how he did this. One false move could easily be the end for him, as he knew the Chief would not haste to take any opportunity to end this. But considering his current situation, Demir knew that this was the only chance he had at winning this contest.

Knowing this Demir knew that he would have to play his ace earlier than he would have liked to.

But it was the only way that he saw out of this situation. Accepting that he would have to fire off his jetpack's missile, Demir readied himself for what he knew would be a do-or-die moment for him.

As he then fired off the missile from his jetpack and he immediately started to close the distance between himself and the Chief. But as he did so and the missile then exploded, Demir found once he had gotten through the smoke that John was holding a small sphere in his hand.

Quickly realizing what it was and this situation he was now in, Demir opened up on the Chief, as he immediately tried to open the distance between them once again. But by then he was already too late. As sphere was now glowing a bright neon blue, and was traveling straight towards him at a blinding speed!

Immediately realizing that it, Demir immediately tried to change direction with his jetpack, trying to get clear!

But sadly, the leader of Clan Dyra was too slow in his reaction, as the plasma grenade then landed on his lower chest near his left side as it then detonated!

The sphere released the stored plasma in a violent flash of bright blue energy, sending Demir flying back from the force of the explosion!

"GAHHH!" Demir then cried out as he then flew backwards.

All the while trying and failing to control his fall, as he then slammed into the hard ground of the courtyard. Knowing that he had to get up, Demir tried to raise himself and quickly realized that his body was not responding.

At which point he had to acknowledge the fact that John had managed to land such a blow that it had rendered him unable to continue this fight. And now all he could do was wait for the finishing blow, as he listened to the footfall of the living tank as he approached him.

Demir then turned his head to face him, as he was already starting to lose feeling throughout his lower body.

"F-finish, it," Demir managed to crock out of a mouth that barely seemed to be working.

But then to Demir's surprise the Chief turned away from him. Demir was about to cry out to him until he noticed why he had turned.

He saw the Historian followed by several of his Clan mates. When he saw this, Demir could not understand why they had come out onto the field of battle before the fight had concluded.

"W-why?" He then rasped, trying to understand what was happening.

"I'm sorry Ori'vod, but I asked him for this." The old man said as he approached.

"Shab, you couldn't even?" The head of the Clan trailed off at that point.

As such a thing seemed so trivial now as he knew that he was beaten. So, what was the point now?

Still, it seemed that his Clan mate knew what he was thinking as one of them who he recognized then came up.

"It's a mortal wound alor," His Clan member and oversee of this whole contest then informed him.

Those words oddly enough came as a relief to him, as that meant that no matter what happened now it would not reflect on himself or the Clans honour. And seeing how the Historian had asked the Chief to allow them this moment should the opportunity arise, Demir was not going to let this go to waste.

"W-where *Cough*" The old man started coughing up some blood before he was able to ask his question. "Where's, Dorn?" The head of Clan Dyra then asked.

To which the boy stepped out of the crowd.

"Ba'buir," The child muttered as he approached the bloody mess that had been Demir.

The fact that he had not so much as flinched upon seeing him showed just how well his training had been. For Dorn had been a part of many previous hunts and had seen dead bodies. But the fact that the ruined form was not that of some animal, but the leader of this Clan. This hit rather differently for the boy.

Still, young Dorn remembered what he had been told by his ba'buir, and kept his emotions hidden. As to keep up a front not only for himself but for his grandfather as well.

"Listen well, I don't have! *Cough*!" Demir started to say before he started coughing hardly.

But the old alor did not let this stop him from speaking one last time with his grandson.

"Bu'ad, I trained you as I did your, *Cough*" Demir started to say, but ended up coughing up some more blood.

At which point he knew he did not have that much time left, so he would have to make this short.

"Your buir, follow in his footsteps, *Cough* and you, have *Cough!" Demir could finish his sentences.

As his talking only served to aggravate his chest, still it seemed that he would not have to do so, as Dorn spoke to him the code of honour of their Clan.

"Followed the path, to which we will find redemption from the sins of our past failures." Dorn then recited from memory.

To which Demir wanted to laugh, as they had been trying to drill that into his head for years, and now of all time he remembers it. Still, the head of Clan Dyra found himself unable to as his lower body hurt too much to do so.

So instead Demir decided to smile, as that part of his body seemed to work, he then turned his attention to the Chief.

"Chief, thank you. *Cough!* Now end this, don't let me bleed out." Demir said as darkness and pain started to claw at his senses.

As he did not want his end to be this way, and thankfully Chief was willing to oblige him. As the SPARTAN knew at this point such an action would be considered a mercy. As he then levelled the blaster, he had been given at Demir's head, at which point the old man weakly nodded to him, at which point John pulled the trigger.

Still, Demir did not hear the sound of the gun, as he then found himself in a void. He guessed that this was the end many talked about, and it seemed that they were right about it, as he then felt himself falling into the black dreams that he had fallen into many times before, but unlike all those before, this one would see him to the afterlife.

Everyone watched as Demir's body finally came to rest on the ground of the courtyard.

As a couple of Clan members started to do their duties in regard to the final rights of the fallen, all the while those who were not immediately involved with the process stayed back to disguise what should be done now that John had won this battle.

Still, they waited until the body of Demir had been taken away before anyone said anything.

"Thank you for that, as he always said that he wanted to go out with honour." One of the members of Clan Dyra said to the Chief, breaking the silence.

John did not say anything in reply to this, as he felt that he did not need to. As he had been asked to do this, he did not feel that he needed praise for his actions.

Still, he knew that he had to say something, knowing this John decided to simply get to the root of the problem.

"So, what happens now?" John then asked the question.

As this was now the question on everyone's minds, some of the Clan members knew what would happen next.

"Well for starters we would have to swear you in as leader of the-." But before they could finish the Chief cut them off.

They needed to know the truth as to why he had even come here in the first place.

"I have no desire to rule Clan Dyra," John then told all those gathered.

Needless to say, this came as an unwelcome surprise to some who were gathered there, as one of those gathered asked the obvious question.

"Then why did you challenge our alor for leadership at all?" The woman in a set of gray-black armour asked.

"To send a message," The Spartan stated simply.

This answer seemed to make many of those standing there rather confused, and maybe even a little angry.

"So why did you Kriffing come here in the first place?" One of the other men then asked.

"Because the other Clans decided that bringing him in through force was the best way of doing things." The Historian explained for those who had not been in the loop of what had been going on behind the scenes, regarding their leaders' dealings.

To which some of those there seemed to put the pieces together. And obviously, they did not like the picture that it showed them, as one of them then asked the question.

"Do you know if he was involved with this?" The older-sounding man asked.

To which there was a pause, as the Historian seemed to debate as to whether he should share his information regarding this matter. But given the circumstances, he was obliged to share the information he had.

"Sadly, he was," The Historian finally stated.

This drew everyone's attention, including the Chief's, who turned to face him, as he had not shared this fact, not even with the Chief.

"Explain," John's voice then took on a darker tone.

Because he had not been told about this to be hearing about this now came as something of an unpleasant surprise. Still, the fact remained that John had started to give the Historian a bit of his trust and he had betrayed it.

Needless to say, the Historian had been expecting this kind of reaction from the Chief, as from his earlier conversation with Cortana. John hated being kept in the dark about certain things, and the old man could only imagine what he thought of his request given the information he had just shared.

"I merely suspect him; it was only during our talk that he confirmed this to me." The Historian admitted as much.

As he had guessed Demir would have been involved in this mess in some capacity. But to the extent he had been, the Historian had not expected that. Still, this was not enough for John, but thankfully Cortana, who had been unusually quiet up to this point, spoke up.

"John, I know what you're thinking; and it's not his fault." Cortana then said into their private link.

As she did not want anyone outside to know of their conversation.

"How can you know that?" The SPARTAN then asked her.

Because from what he understood the two men had something of a past relationship. But what bothered John the most was the fact that he had not shared his suspicions with him.

"Well for one, there wasn't any way that he could've told you. As he joined us after you arrived here." The AI reminded him.

Which was true, the Historian and Demir had arrived here after John had. Still, this did not seem to be enough for the SPARTAN, as everything he was used to having that helped him make sense of the wider world around him was not there.

This was something that Cortana was more than aware of and considering that she could have done something to prevent this situation from occurring but did not was merely a part of a larger strategy on her part.

She wanted John to reach out and learn about these situations he would encounter in civilian life. Because despite how warriors like the Mandalorians were, they were probably the closest people that she could see John fitting in with.

The whole society, with a few notable exceptions, knew the burden that being a soldier could be. The fact that the Historian had been one himself he had spoken to Cortana at length about it.

Though she had not explained everything about John to him, she had hinted that he had been a part of a war that had required him to be in uniform at an incredibly young age. Hence why he had trouble dealing with or simply handling certain interactions with others.

But this effort would be for nothing if John did not try to reach out to him. As up to this point all his interactions with the old man had been strictly business-based and nothing more.

The mode of communication that John was most comfortable with was being honest. A fact that made itself apparent in his response.

"We should've had-." John started to say before Cortana cut him off.

As she knew where he was going with this.

"Then you should've been the one to talk to him about this, as I can't do everything for you John." Cortana reminded Chief of one the most important lessons that he had learned at basic training.

You did not win unless your team won, and so far, John had not been pulling his weight regarding this relationship he had been slowly building with the Historian. It was worse than the one that he had developed with Avery Johnson during the war. And like it or not, John had come to realize that he would need to develop this one more urgently considering how far he had gone to help him.

It was the least he could do given the circumstances.

"Understood, I'll talk to him once this is dealt with," John said.

As the SPARTAN would be having a lengthy conversation with the old man after this. Mostly because this had been something that Cortana had been pushing him to do for some time now.

"That's all I'm asking for John," Cortana said as she and the Chief then turned back to the ongoing conversation.

As John then caught the tail end of what was being said.

"-fact we so have a plan to deal with this." The Historian explained.

"So just what are you proposing then?" The judge then asked.

"You'll have whoever Demir in line to take his position as leader. In exchange for this, all he needs to do is look out for my best interests; in exchange, I'll do the same Clan Dyra." John then offered.

As it was the best arrangement for everyone as far as the Spartan was considered, as Clan Dyra would be able to continue with their arrangements with the New Mandalorians, while he and Cortana were kept up to date on their activities through the Clan.

Still, there was an obvious problem with this as, unlike most Clans. Clan Dyre wasn't like Spar, as they were extremely traditional so an arrangement like this, no matter how beneficial it might be to them in the long run, was not simply going to slide with them.

At least not without a lot of convincing on both John's and the Historian's part. This was made obvious by the response he received to his proposal from the woman who had spoken earlier.

"I don't know from what galaxy you're from, but that's not how things work here." She said with distance in her voice.

"We're aware of that, but there's something rather important that you should know." The Historian replied, as there was one rather important fact that they had to be aware of.

And it was the only reason as to why the Chief had even been allowed to launch his challenge in the first place.

"What might that be?" The Ref then asked.

"Simply put, he's non-Mandalorian." The Historian dropped the bombshell on them.

At that point, it dawned on all the gathered members of Clan Dyra the understand the implications of what he had just said. For there was only one way that a non-Mandalorian could challenge other Clans in this way.

"Who's supporting him?" One of the other members then asked.

"Clan Spar," Chief stated simply.

He did not need to say anything after this, as everyone there knew the reputation of the Clan the Spartan had spoken of. And more importantly, they all knew that Clan Spar would not have even considered doing this for any good reason.

So, attacking a non-Mandalorian and trying to force them into your Clan was a major breach of the Code. A Code that Clan Spar was willing to defend rather violently if needed.

"Do you speak with their authority then?" The Ref then asked.

Because he and his fellow Clan members needed to know who they were dealing with regarding this settlement.

"I am, as what took place was a challenge using mine and Clan Spars' authority, so we need to reach an agreement that makes everyone happy. Unless you're willing to negotiate with Akara herself." The old man made the veiled threat.

Because everyone there knew just how much of a challenge it would be should Akara become involved. Let alone if she were to learn what the Historian had told everyone there, that was merely guaranteeing war between Clans Spar and Dyra.

So, knowing this, everyone there knew that an arranged settlement was the best outcome given the circumstances.

"Very well then, come inside we'll figure out just what in the nine Corellia hells we can Kriffing salvage from this mess." The older-sounding man said as he and his fellow Clan mates started making their way to the entrance from which they had originally entered into the courtyard.

John then sensed that he would be here longer than he had originally planned to be.

Still, this did not stop John from falling in behind the members of Clan Dyra as they walked back into their home. No double expected to spend the next couple of hours with their guest hammering out the final details of their arrangement. And once this was done, John would attend to other matters that would require his immediate attention.

Such as the small following that he had been gathering, as he could only imagine their reaction once they learned of what he had done. But more importantly, John had to start preparing for what he knew was coming.

Because one way or another John knew in his bones that despite his attempts to keep out of it.

Wars, especially big ones, tended to draw in those around them. No matter how much they might not want to get involved in it.

Mando'a dictionary:

Ori'vod - big brother, older brother, special friend

Alor - leader, chief, *officer*, constable, boss

Beskar'gam - armour

Ba'buir - grandfather/grandmother

Bu'ad - grandchild

Buir - Father

That is all she wrote; I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter.

As people already knew the outcome of this contest, I still did what I could to make it entertaining. As such let me know what you liked and did not so that I can improve in the future.

So now with that out of the way you can all expect John and Cortana to start and explore as their position in the Mandalorian sector is now secured. So, they are a small time skip as well, mostly because I want to skip the boarding stuff and get to what I want to write about.

Anyway, that is enough of that, so until I see you all in the next chapter, stay safe and have a good one.