A Match for the Mandalore

Canderous



The flight to Malachor V was tense. Everyone on board was edgy and mostly silent. It’s one thing to be gearing for battle; another to be flying in blind to a total unknown. I was wary of dark jetti mind tricks and tried to ask Jennet what we can expect. She had very little useful information.



“I don’t know, honestly. I’ve heard that dark Jedi can trap you in your mind, and make you experience things you’d rather forget. But beyond that…I don’t know. And that’s mostly a rumor. I tend to think it’s more or less true.”



“Can you block it?” I asked, concerned.



“I’ve never had to try,” Jennet said seriously. “Like I said, it’s only been rumor. I can block a lot of Jedi abilities very well, and shield my own, but…” her voice trailed off. “This is totally unknown.”



And totally unhelpful, but it certainly wasn’t her fault. I was the only completely unqualified person here as far as combating Jedi ability. But maybe my lack of Force ability will be an asset. I quit thinking about it, and filed away the scant information.



Jennet and Mira prepared food for everyone as we traveled. She said she wasn’t very hungry, but needed fuel anyway; might as well feed everyone. I could feel she was somewhat drained from the stim earlier and the mass healing she had done. She firmly blocked any attempt I made to give her my strength, saying she’d be fine with food and a little time.



I could hear her chatting quietly with Mira as they prepped the meals. I tuned in, eavesdropping on the conversation. I heard Dax’s name, and gave a start. So, Mira was interested in my former lieutenant? Interesting. I’d caught a look or two Dax had sent Mira’s way. I didn’t have a problem with it. Our people were few enough, it wouldn’t be practical to try to rebuild the population within our own race entirely. There were even less women and children to be found than men – doesn’t make for an ideal gene pool.



There had been rumors that some of the women left on the planet had organized evacuations, and had disappeared somewhere in the galaxy. I’d spent a good deal of the last five years tracking down those rumors and finding nothing. Mandalorian women are tough, and resourceful: if some made it out, I had no doubt they were safe. In my case, I knew for certain Gerda had not survived, nor any of my family. Two days after our surrender, I went down myself, and saw them. I’d buried them in the back garden, then escaped the wreckage of my world.



Jennet caught some of that, and made a sympathetic noise in my mind. I wish that Kriea had chosen anywhere else in the galaxy than there.



Me too, Wildcat.



Everyone fed and as ready as they’ll ever be, we soon made it to Malachor V. As we approached, the klaxon sounded, and the ship started to shake.



Everyone hit high alert as Atton shouted over the comm, Hang on, we’re in a tractor beam! This is going to be rough!



There was a noise that started low, and grew in intensity; a sort of buzzing, and I suddenly realized it was voices. A high-pitched whine invaded my head, and I clapped my hands over my ears reflexively. It grew until I thought I was going to go mad, and I felt the ship shudder as it seemed to touch down. Everyone was holding their heads and shouting, but no one could hear anyone else, and the voices and whine increased until I passed out.



I woke to silence, on the surface of the planet. I looked around, searching for Jennet, but I was alone. My head felt heavy at first, but I shook it a couple of times and the feeling backed off. I looked around, and saw to my shock I was in front of the ruined remains of my former home.



How the fuck did I get here? I wondered. I reached out for Jennet, but couldn’t feel her. I didn’t think she was dead, though. I remembered what she said, and tried closing my eyes and imagining myself on board the Ebon Hawk. When I opened my eyes again, I was still in front of the rubble that had been my house. Either this was real, or I couldn’t shake off the dark jetti trick.



I heard someone approaching, and whipped out my blaster. From around the corner, a man approached. He was tall, in his early twenties, with electric blue eyes and black hair. He was most definitely Mandalorian, and he was scowling. I considered lowering my weapon, but decided to stay put for now.



“Father?” He asked, glaring at me.



I stared, open-mouthed. “Cardus?” I whispered.



“I thought it was you,” he spat at me. “You look just as I remembered. Mother said you’d be back, and you never came. The great General Ordo, who abandoned his family to die.”



“This isn’t real,” I said strongly. “I came back too late, and you were all dead. I buried you myself.”



“Don’t even recognize your own children? That wasn’t me; it was Darius Aeton. I was in the cellar when the bombing started. You didn’t even hear me when you came, did you? I was screaming for help, and you didn’t hear me. I crawled out five days after the attack, and found other survivors. We’ve been sending distress calls, but no has come back.”



“No, no, no, no,” I muttered. “We did come, we searched for survivors, but there weren’t many. YOU’RE NOT REAL!” I bellowed, shaking my head.



Cardus just looked at me with loathing. “Still denying us. I expect nothing less from a coward like you.”



This wasn’t right; I knew it. Cardus was dead, I buried him myself. This was a trick, something to keep me here while Kriea did Gods knew what to the rest of my friends. I had to break it, I knew that. I knew it.



But I wanted Cardus to be real. Even hating me, even if it meant I had abandoned him, unknowing, to scrape survival on a dead planet while I lived a decent, even occasionally luxurious, life doing evil things for eviler men, hating myself. I wanted him to be real. Alive, and real.



But he wasn’t. I couldn’t live a lie, and this was one.



Then I heard Jennet calling me.



Canderous, love, fight it, it’s not real. I’m here. Fight, damn you!



I looked at Cardus, and smiled. “Good-bye Son. I wish I’d been a better father to you.”



I closed my eyes, and felt Jennet shaking me. When I opened them again, I saw her face, full of worry and fear.



“Are you real?” I asked stupidly.



She slapped me, hard.



“Guess so,” I mumbled, rubbing my jaw.



“You scared me. Will you stop doing that?” She said fiercely.



“Can’t promise anything.” I muttered. I was feeling dizzy and felt Jennet give me some strength. The dizziness stopped.



“I need help. Bao Dur and Disciple have come out of it, and they’re getting the crew back. Visas is still under, Atton’s practically catatonic in the cockpit. And,” she drew a deep breath, “Ladria and Mira are gone.”



“Gone? How?”



“No idea. But Bao Dur picked up life signs. We all still have our tracers on; he adjusted the computer to its frequency. They’re moving, so they’re alive. But there’s lots of big critters out there, too.”



“Where’s everyone now?” I was standing, and Jennet started toward the women’s dorms. “Visas is back here,” she said. “Bao Dur is helping Atton. We’ve got to check the damage to the ship, and be prepared to fly when we’re sure we can get Ladria and Mira back.”



She went into the dorm, me at her heels. Visas was moaning and thrashing, obviously still in thrall. Disciple was talking soothingly to her, trying to pull her out. He looked up at Jennet, his eyes wide and troubled.



“I can’t get through to her,” he said anxiously. “I reach her, a little, and she slips away. I knew she had horrible experiences…” his voice trailed off.



“Let me help,” Jennet said.



Disciple gave her an assessing look. “All right. Maybe both of us can manage.”



Jennet sat down on the floor, pulling Visas’s head into her lap. Placing her fingertips on the other woman’s temples, she closed her eyes and started murmuring encouragement, urging her to come back. Disciple joined her, placing his hands just under hers. Visas started to violently shake, and thrash around, almost hitting Jennet. I sat down, motioned to both of them to move, gathered Visas up, and held her tight to stop her from hurting herself. Jennet nodded approval, and went back to trying to help, along with Disciple. The four of us sat there, awkward and cramped in the small space between the bunks, for uncounted minutes. Visas struggled, but I held firm, and Jennet and Disciple continued to talk to her. Gradually, Visas calmed down, and opened her eyes.



Jennet looked at her worriedly. “Do you want to talk about it? Are you okay?”



Visas looked shaken. “Not right now, no. And yes, thank you, I’m fine.” She looked up at me and I hurriedly let go of her. She stood up and smiled at me a little shakily.



“Thank you,” she said simply.



“No problem.”



The three of us headed toward the cockpit. In the common room, Atton and Bao Dur and were just sitting down. Atton looked drawn and pale, his eyes dark and haunted. I expected he was shaken from both his experiences and Ladria’s disappearance, as well as Mira’s. I knew he’d once been a Jedi hunter; I didn’t want to think what he might have relived. Bao Dur looked upset too, but not nearly as bad as Atton or Visas. I wondered what he had seen, and decided I was better not knowing.



We called up the planet on the table, and found Mira’s and Ladria’s signals. They were not far from each other and seemed to be moving in the same direction. Bao Dur spoke up.



“I’ve got an idea,” he said slowly. “There’s tons of wrecked Republic ships on the planet’s surface. From what we can see from the scans, these four,” he pointed out four points on the map, “could have their computers reactivated.”



“And what will that do?” I asked, puzzled.



“They’re Republic ships, as I said. They also have Shadow Generators on board.”



I whistled. That was what had destroyed my planet in the first place. I wasn’t thrilled with the notion, but if it shut down this threat, I could get behind it. Malachor V was a ghost planet; nothing could help it now. Bao Dur, seeming to sense some of this, looked at me questioningly. I nodded.



“How do we do this?” Visas asked.



“I could send Probe down there to repair and activate the computers. He could evade the creatures easily, and we wouldn’t risk the rest of the crew. We might be needed to get the General and Mira out of there. The Generator would have to be activated from the surface anyway; Probe’s expendable; we’re not.”



“Sounds good,” Atton said. “Now, what do we do about Mira and Ladria?”



“They both still have their comlinks but the atmosphere here is highly charged; it’s blocking their transmissions. I need some time to recalibrate the computers to cut through the static so we can reach them. I’ll program Probe first, send him on his way, then try to find a way to reach Mira and the General.”



“What can we do to help?” Jennet asked anxiously.



“Anyone with computer experience can help me. I’m going to try and make the whole ship a transmitter/receiver, basically. Everyone else needs to get the ship back up to speed; it’s flyable, but barely. It’ll shake itself apart the moment we try to leave atmo. Without a way off the planet, we’re all dead; that has to be our priority. Atton, you, Mandalore, and Disciple start there. Visas, how are you with tools?”



Visas smiled faintly. “I know one from another.”



“Fine, you can hand things to the others. Jennet, you have computer experience, yes?”



“Above average. I can hack, and reprogram. I’m not the genius you are, though.”



“Well, two sets of eyes are better than one. Come with me.”



Jennet



I followed Bao Dur to the main computer station, and we got to work. It didn’t take too long to get things set up, and we got a faint call from Mira on her comlink. She sounded pissed as hell.



“The fucking evil Jedi witch brought that damn Wookie here! How many times do I have to kill that crazy furry son of a bitch?”



“You okay, Mira?” I asked.



“Yeah, I’m fine. Little sore,” she groused. “Where’s the ship?”



We gave her directions to get back and informed her that Ladria, as best we could tell, was heading to a structure somewhere North of Mira’s location.



“I’ll follow,” she said immediately. “She could use help. How far is it?”



“About two klicks. Mira, we’re trying to get the ship fixed; we might have to get out of here in a hurry. I don’t know if we’ll have time to pick up both of you.”



Mira swore. “I can’t leave her out here, and I am not much help with the ship. If I don’t make it, take off without me.” She signed off, and Bao Dur sighed.



“I thought she’d do that,” he said quietly.



“Yeah, well, I don’t like leaving her out there.” I scowled. “I should go out; I’m not much help with the ship either.”



“No, you won’t,” Bao Dur said firmly. “If you leave, nothing will keep Canderous here, and he is help with the ship. Mira can take care of herself, and she’ll find the General.”



I agreed with the logic, but I didn’t like it at all. While we had been talking, he had been working on his probe, and shortly, it was ready for release. He sent it out the garage hatch, looking a little lost without his small shadow.



Everyone was racing to get the ship ready, and I appointed myself communications officer, since I wasn’t all that good with mechanics. I couldn’t reach Ladria at all; she probably lost her comlink sometime after being taken from the ship. Mira was making progress, and had reached the structure we had picked up on scan.



“It seems to be some sort of …” She swore savagely. The girl had a colorful vocabulary, I had to give her that. “It’s a Sith academy. Doesn’t look like school’s in session, though. I’ll comm you if I learn anything else.” And with that, she switched off. I swore too, and waited impatiently. A half hour later, she came back on.



“I caught a glimpse of Ladria; she headed into an inner chamber and I can’t get through the door. I’m looking for another way in.”



I waited some more, and her voice came over the speaker. “Nope, everything’s sealed, no way in. I’m going to wait here until she comes out.”



“You do that.” I answered. “We’re almost ready here.” Visas had come in a moment ago to tell me that Probe was ready to detonate, and the ship was just about ready. “Fifteen minutes, tops,” I reported to Mira.



That quarter hour dragged by slow. I refused to look at the clock after the first minute. Finally, I felt the ship start up, and I commed Mira.



“We’re on our way!”



“No sign of Ladria…wait! All right, we’ll meet you on the East side!”



I hit the general comm gleefully. Everyone, Ladria’s alive and Mira’s with her. Head to the East side of the Academy, I reported happily.



I heard everyone cheer, and Canderous joined me.



“Good work, Wildcat.” He kissed me hard.



“You too.”



“I didn’t do much; Atton and Bao Dur are much better mechanics. But she’s running now.”



“Yeah, well, neither am I. I’d much rather go kill things than sit and wait and wonder.”



“I hear you,” he chuckled, and we both headed to the garage to collect our shipmates.



There was no place to land at the Academy. Atton brought the ship as close as he could, and we opened the hatch. Mira jumped first, Canderous and Bao Dur caught her and hauled her in. Ladria leaped lightly, landing gracefully on the ramp. Bao Dur grabbed her quickly; the wind was fierce, buffeting her slight form. Once inside, the hatch slammed shut and we were on our way. Bao Dur gave Probe the command to detonate the Shadow Generator, and we all could feel the impact of the explosion. Canderous closed his eyes as the tremors fell away.



Good-bye, I heard him say silently.