A Match for the Mandalore

Daxon Ondi looked over at Jennet, and his face darkened. He drew his blaster, and had it aimed at Jennet before I could recover my own surprise at seeing him.



“Traitorous jetti bitch!” He spat at her.



As he started to open fire, I threw myself in front of her and took a blast to the chest. Thank the Gods I had a shield in place. I hit the ground, and Jennet wasn’t there anymore; she’d launched herself at Dax and had the weapon out of his hands so fast I couldn’t follow the movement. I had just been shot, after all. She followed up with a vicious slam to the side of his head, and he went down, stunned but not unconscious. The rest of the Mandalorians were moving to grab Jennet when I roared “Nobody move!”



Jennet, of course, ignored this and had her blade at Dax’s throat in a blink. The rest of the men stopped, uncertain what to do. I got up and removed my helm.



“Dax, we seem to have a misunderstanding here.” I said in my best don’t-fuck-with-me voice. I saw movement and snapped, “Stay where you are or I’ll let the ladies cut you down where you stand.”



There was a dark grumbling and several nasty looks thrown at Jennet and Visas, but nobody moved. I felt a wave of healing energy and the pain in my chest evaporated. I sent a silent thanks to Jennet who acknowledged with a curt nod. She didn’t take her eyes off the man in front of her.



Dax looked up at me, open-mouthed. “General Ordo? But…when did you become Mandalore? And what are you doing with jetti? Especially this conniving whore?”



“What is it with you guys and that word?” Jennet asked conversationally. She glared at Dax, then her face softened. “And why are you not dead?”



In a tone of deadly calm I informed Dax, “You will watch how you refer to my mate, or I’ll cut the tongue out of your head.”



“Mate?!” His eyes went wide, and then his face contorted. “You are no Mandalore, consorting with jetti.” He spat the word.



“You know, I keep warning, you keep talking. Jennet?” She smiled, and dug the blade a little closer.



He glared up at her. “Go ahead. If my bretheran have fallen so far as to accept a jetti as mate, I’d prefer death.”



Jennet spoke softly. “I thought you were dead, Dax. I felt it; there was no life force. I mourned for you and Jareth. I wouldn’t have left, otherwise.”



He looked up, disbelieving. “I saw how you could heal. Yet you ran rather than help a partner. I was taken to the Hutt and tortured for months before I could escape. I killed the Hutt and vowed I would find you and kill you for leaving me and Jareth for dead.”



“Jareth survived?” Jennet’s voice was barely a whisper.



Dax shook his head. “No. He died in the cantina, with Davin. The last thing I saw was him taking a sword through the heart; the next thing I knew I was in a kolto tank, being healed. Hutts prefer their victims alive and healthy. I spent three months being starved and tortured. I escaped when one of the Hutt’s guards got careless and opened my cell when he thought I had passed out. I snapped his neck, found the Hutt and killed him and four of his bodyguards. I stole a ship and have been looking for you ever since.”



He shot a look of loathing at me, then looked at her again, seething with fury. “And now I find you’re spreading your poison, claiming the Mandalore as mate. Canderous, kill her now and end this madness. She’s cast some jetti spell on you; you can’t be in your right mind.”



“Son,” I used the term by habit; he was certainly not the young man of fifteen years ago anymore. “I’m going to say this one last time because I don’t want to kill you. Watch your mouth how you speak of Jennet; she’s my mate, and I will prove it when we are with our people again. You will show her proper respect, or I will see to it personally that you wear your guts outside your armor.”



I paused, and he glowered, but wisely kept quiet. “Now…Jennet, tell him what you told me. You,” I pointed to the remaining five, “Get yourselves re-armed, if you need to. Make one wrong move toward either of the ladies and you’ll be dead before you hit the deck. We’ve got work to do, and the Sith won’t stay away long.” I picked a likely looking lad out of the bunch. “You, there, your name?” I barked.



“Jenks, Sir. Barton Jenks.”



“Jenks, go seal the door. This might take a bit.”



“Yes, Mandalore,” he said, and hurried to do so.



Meanwhile, Jennet was talking to Dax, quietly and earnestly. She even healed him; he’d taken more than a few hits and was showing it. I watched for a moment, and joined them. Dax was starting to relent, and Jennet had lowered her sword. She hadn’t sheathed it – I approved; she couldn’t let her guard down completely. But Dax was listening now.



“I’m sorry Dax, really. I wouldn’t have gone if I had thought there was any chance you were alive.” Jennet was saying.



Dax said slowly, “You really felt no life force at all?”



“No,” she said simply. “I checked first; the guys that got me out were insisting we leave immediately but I couldn’t go until I knew for sure. There was no breath, no pulse, no life force at all. I can’t imagine how you survived.” She dug in her pouch and handed something to Dax. “I took these off you and Jareth. I thought if I ever met any kin of yours, I could at least tell them that you had died as a Mandalorian should: in battle.”



“What she says is true, Dax.” I broke in. “I saw how she mourned you and Jareth. She told me about you, and admired your loyalty to me. She told me what you said about me during the war. ‘Hard-assed son of a bitch with a mind like a razor and the heart of a Lagartoz War Dragon’ is how I think you put it?”



Dax nodded, staring at the brooches in his hand. “Yeah. You were, you know.”



“Well, I still am.” I saw him start to grin, and suppress it. I looked hard at him, and he looked back, uncertain but proud. “You have a choice here: believe that Jennet wouldn’t have abandoned a friend, or not. Believe in me, or not.” I was matter of fact, no threat in my tone.



I could see him thinking furiously, and when he’d made up his mind. “I spent the last four years hating you,” Dax said gruffly, looking up at Jennet. “I have wronged you. I apologize.”



Jennet smiled. “There’s nothing to forgive. I’m so glad you’re alive. I don’t blame you for thinking I abandoned you; I probably would have thought so myself if it was the other way around.”



Dax gave her a tight smile. “I guess I wouldn’t have blamed you either.” He looked at me, and said uncertainly, “She’s really your mate?”



“The signs are there,” I said simply. “It was a bit of a shock to me, I can tell you.”



Dax grinned suddenly. “I can imagine. She’s a real spitfire, though. She’ll do.”



I stiffened a little, then relaxed. “Yeah, she’ll do.” I felt Jennet’s warm glow in my head.



You’ll do too.



I offered my hand to Dax, and he took it, clasping warrior to warrior. I hauled him up and he stood, looking at me consideringly. “I can’t wait to see what the rest of our people have to say about this. But if it comes to it, I’ll stand with you.”



“I appreciate it. Now, we have work to do.”



Everyone was reloaded and ready to go. I took a minute to get names from the four I hadn’t talked to yet: Danald Ubi, Rath Yar, Erik Conti, and Angus Leit. They were good men, young, a little thrown by Jennet and Visas and the sudden appearance of the Mandalore in their midst, but when Dax gave them a reassuring look, they were willing to follow me. I took note of that; Dax was a good leader.



“Captain Ondi, we’re about to take on a battleship full of Sith. What say you?” He had been a lieutenant during the war; I figured he deserved a promotion.



“I say bring them on, General. Let them taste the wrath of the Mandalore.” Dax saluted smartly and I returned it.



“Good man. Now, let me make this clear: Jennet and Visas here are two of the most kick ass fighters I’ve ever seen. They will lead with me; the rest of you don’t get in their way. Our goal is to get to the shuttle bay and get on board the warship that’s blasting the hell out of this station. We’ll be met there by allies, all of which are jetti. I know you have reservations about jetti; get over it. They need us, we need them. Got it?” I glared around the faces of my kin, and none flinched. “Good. From there, we’re going to find a way to blow the thing out of the sky. I need every one of you to get this done. This mission must be accomplished. Any questions?”



“No, Sir, Mandalore,” the bellowed in unison. I felt Jennet exchange glances with Visas, but she didn’t laugh, largely due to my silent fierce admonishment not to.



We headed out, and somewhat to my surprise, no Sith had come this way during our interlude. We headed toward the shuttle bay, spread out so as not to present as large a target. Jennet was on my left, Visas on my right. We made our way as quickly as possible, and ran into trouble within sight of the door that lead to our goal.



We needed to turn left to get to the shuttle bay, and ahead of us was a huge number of Sith. They opened fire and charged as we approached, and we engaged. There were too many of them, so we retreated to a room down a twisting corridor. We shored up our defenses there, using anything in the room for cover. The Sith couldn’t just storm the room; all but Visas were armed with blasters as well as swords and could pick off the enemy if they tried.



There was a confused prolonged firefight with blasters roaring back and forth, then the Sith broke through and were able to engage with blades. I saw Jennet wade in with a huge grin on her face; the battle ecstasy had kicked in, and she was a blur of shining metal. I wasn’t anywhere near her when I felt a blow to her head and suddenly, her connection was cut off.



I staggered a little when she got hit, but recovered and continued to blast away, trying to get to her. I had started toward her when something went entirely wrong. Dax was nearby when she went down, I saw him go to her and out of nowhere I felt nothing like I’ve ever felt before. Jennet was suddenly awake, completely blank but in a terrifying rage. She leaped up and was a whirling bundle of steel and feet and mindless violence. Dax jumped out of the way, and she ran straight toward the mass of Sith in the doorway.



We were all fighting for our lives as Jennet, completely berzerk, danced through the enemy, hacking and slashing and cutting down every living thing near her. She twirled and feinted and parried and thrust. Our party was dropping back as the juggernaught that was my mate took out every Sith that came within reach. She wasn’t recognizing friend from foe; Visas, Dax and the rest of the Mandalorians got the hell out of her way when her blade started toward them. In a dance of death that made the scene in the cantina where I first saw her look like a civilized minuet, she savagely mowed down anyone that came close to her.



I stared, completely stunned and unable to reach her. I tried with everything I had to break through the utter void that had become her. She continued on her path of brutal killing, and in less than ten minutes every Sith attacking us was dead. She turned to look for another victim, and started toward me. Before I had a chance to react, she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.



“Hurry!” Visas barked at me. “You need to calm her down, or knock her out. I don’t know how long I can hold her!”



I realized that Visas had thrown a stasis field on Jennet. They were both struggling; Jennet to escape, Visas to hold her in place. I got a hold of myself and reached out to Jennet with my mind. There was nothing there at first, but under the blank rage I could feel her, the real her.



Jennet, come back. It was the first thing I could think of. Help me help you.



I tuned in, and felt something alien inside her. Something clicked; I remembered our match and the stim I had taken. That’s what had happened; Dax had given her stim to wake her up when she’d been knocked out. I had no idea it would do this to her, but I had to try and neutralize it somehow. I remembered how she had gotten it out of me and hoped like hell I could do what she had done.



I walked up to her and put my hands over her heart. I could feel her struggling to break free of the stasis and ignored it. I concentrated on the alien feeling, all the while talking to her in my head.



It’s okay, Wildcat. I’m here; I can help. I repeated this over and over as I tried to remember how she’d drawn the stim out of me. Something in her touched me, and I grabbed it. Using the faint link as a guide, I gathered up the energy of the stim and drew it down. I could feel it passing out of her. As it left, I felt her start to crash, and infused my own energy to keep her from passing out. I was starting to feel light headed when I nodded to Visas and Jennet collapsed in my arms, her mind meeting mine with a confused awareness.



What happened? Was the first fuzzy thought I got from her. I increased the energy between us. I couldn’t heal her, but I could, and did, give her my own life force to bolster her.



I think someone gave you stim, I answered silently. I didn’t know it had this effect on you. Explains a lot about that fight we had, hm?



Her healing energy kicked in, and what damage I had taken also faded away. I heard everyone in the room but Visas gasp a little; Jennet was still a little out of control and had spread the healing around to the general crowd. I could feel her regain composure, and relaxed as relief flooded me. I felt Visas’ healing wash over me and Jennet as well.



My wildcat looked up at me and smiled, her mouth wobbling a little.



“Did we win?”



I looked at the decimated enemy and grinned. “Yeah, we did.”



“Good.” She detached herself from me, and I could feel that she was back to normal.

She looked around the room. My men were staring, open-mouthed, and I remembered how I had felt when I saw her in the cantina. There was a look of respect, and awe, and not a little fear on their faces. She focused on Dax. “Did you give me stim?” she asked quietly.

He gulped, but answered steadily enough, “Yes. You were out, and it was all I had.”



“It’s okay,” she said kindly. “But future reference: Don’t ever do that again.” She looked back at me then, and asked, “How?”



“I don’t know, exactly,” I answered honestly. “You told me how to get it out of you.”



“I’ve only once had someone give me stim. It didn’t go well,” she said. “I should be out cold right now.”



“Think of it as a benefit of being my mate,” I offered. “We’re linked; I gave you some of my strength.” I heard a low murmur among the Mandalorians at that.



“Thank you,” she said simply, and kissed me soundly.



“You’re welcome,” I said gruffly. “Don’t do that again.”



She turned to Visas and gave her a tremulous smile. “Thanks.”



Visas smiled gently back. “I did what was needed. No thanks are necessary.”



“Well thank you anyway.”



“Wildcat, we need to get to the shuttle. You okay?” I broke in; we didn’t have time for this.



“Yeah.”



“Let’s go, then.”