Me, Myself and Mandalorians:20

Twenty


A black tide of beasts poured from the entranceways, some running across the walls and ceiling, others pounding on all fours towards the defenders. The air was filled with blasts from DC15s and the ozone stink of blaster discharge.

Arkaan, Marcla and Shane kept their heads down, Marcla and Arkaan crawling as fast as they could towards the barricades whilst Shane lay on his back, a pistol in each hand and blasted away with both, alternating shots with each hand, scoring dozens of hits before the power packs ran dry.

Several objects flew overhead, and the ARC curled himself into a ball automatically. The grenades went off in a staccato burst, throwing gore, blood and shrapnel into the air. Arkaan looked back and watched Shane as he commando-crawled his way towards him, moving arm-over-arm as quickly as he could.

Out of the corner of his eye, Arkaan spotted Shane's rifle and quickly snatched it up before spraying fire into the solid mass of oncoming beasts. He kept the fire up as the ARC passed him, putting short bursts into anything that came too close. Behind him, Marcla pulled herself up and over the barricade and waved away a medic.

Shane paused behind Arkaan and took a few seconds to reload his pistols. With one hand, he leveled a pistol and opened fire again, whilst the other hand reached over and tapped Arkaan on the shoulder. Feeling the contact, the Mandalorian swung himself around and scrambled on all fours to the barricade, propping himself up on it and firing back the way he came, yelling at Shane to come on.

One of the beasts flew through the air, almost landing on top of Shane before several red blasts of energy caught it and threw it backwards. Shane turned to see Orikih switching targets and firing again with the heavy repeating blaster in his hands, powerful blasts thrumming out of the barrel and wreaking destruction amongst the attacking animals.

Shane used the distraction to maximum effect, scrabbling to his feet and running full pelt towards the barricades, picking up Arkaan along the way and all-but hurling both of them over the crates.

Around them, troopers were firing in disciplined bursts, keeping to their training despite the desperate circumstances. Hoday had appropriated a carbine from somewhere and was lending his own fire to the volleys, whilst Marcla had her hands extended in front of her, eyes closed in concentration. Neither had any idea what she was doing, but if it was helping, then interrupting her could well have a detrimental effect on the defence, and so they turned back to the fight.

More and more beasts were filtering through the doorways opposite them, scrabbling over the bodies of those that had gone before trying to get closer. But despite their best efforts at keeping the hordes away, the black pile crept ever closer, coming dangerously close to the barricades themselves, threatening the troopers behind them with leaping beasts.

Suddenly, a side-wall blew out, throwing debris and gore into the air and knocking several troopers closest to the blast off their feet. Through the ragged hole floated a figure trailing translucent tendrils of light, and Arkaan cried out in shock as he recognised Jay.

Barely visible blasts of energy flew from his hands, throwing beasts in all directions. One landed behind the barricades and disemboweled three troopers before succumbing to repeated blows from rifle butts and knife blades. Another jumped at Jay, mouth wide open and fangs bared, but Jay merely turned and punched it, burying his arm up to the elbow into its mouth. The two halves of the animal slid off his metallic arm, sparking as they fell, and Jay turned, gesturing with his other organic hand, spattering the bulkheads beside him with gore and body parts.

He turned and looked at the group, eyes somehow boring into every single one of them, and the fire slackened off.

"Go," whispered a voice in their ears. "I'll hold them."

With a pop of displaced air, a LAAT/i broke the force field and swooped over their heads, firing a few bursts from the anti-personnel cannons, vaporising several chunks of the still-advancing horde. It swung around and settled behind the barricades and Marcla stood beside it, waving several squads on board.

Two more gunships appeared and settled onto the deck, their cargo-bay doors sliding open as soon as they were inside the atmosphere of the hangar. More squads broke off from the defence on the orders of Marcla and their sergeants and jumped onto the waiting transports.

Arkaan fired a few more bursts before turning and looking at the remaining troopers maintaining the defensive wall. He was shocked to see less than thirty men training their rifles over the make-shift barricades. Turning to Jaig, he motioned him over.

"Is this everyone? Have we left anyone behind?" he asked frantically.

"This is everyone left alive sir," replied Jaig after tilting his head for a few seconds and consulting his comm.

"An entire battalion," whispered Arkaan, almost to himself.

The Mandalorian turned to see Hoday staring at him, as if realising the same thing at the exact same time as Arkaan. The Jedi swallowed hard and set his jaw, blinking furiously as tears threatened to overwhelm him. Arkaan looked away and caught Orikih's eye, and the Wookiee growled low in his throat.

Two of the gunships took off whilst the other was still being loaded. Another swept into the hangar and dropped down onto the deck, hard.

Without hesitating, Orikih grabbed Hoday by the scruff of the neck and threw him bodily into the cargo bay of the newly-arrived gunship before following him in. Arkaan yelled an order and the rest of the troopers broke off as one, jumping into the gunship one-by-one. The other LAAT/i, now full of exhausted clones, took off and quickly slid out of the force field and up and out of the hangar bay.

Marcla, having directed the troopers onto the arriving gunships, finally swung herself into the last transport, settling herself down beside Hoday, who was sat with his head in his crossed arms at Orikih's feet. Shane leapt up into the cargo bay, and offered Arkaan his hand.

He was the last man on the deck, and before accepting Shane's hand, he looked back at Jay.

Blasts of semi-invisible force were throwing bodies around the hangar bay, pulverising bodies and destroying the black-skinned animals as they appeared. From the ragged hole Jay had appeared from, a line of white armour had appeared, and was firing tight, disciplined volleys into the mass of writing bodies.

"Let him go," whispered a voice, and he turned to see her standing beside him again, one foot on the lip of the cargo area of the gunship and one hand extended towards him.

Arkaan gritted his teeth and used Shane's hand to pull him aboard the LAAT/i.



***



The Indomitable accelerated towards the approaching asteroid, enormous cannons turning on their mounts and engines flaring dangerously. Gunships circled it like feeding parasites on an aquatic leviathan, swooping in close and keeping a close eye on the vessel, concentrating their attentions on the half-destroyed doors of the dorsal hangar.

Four LAAT/i gunships accelerated away from the enormous ship, and the other ships dropped into an escort position around them.

Captain Pell watched them on the view-screen in his quarters.

He'd pulled open his stiff military tunic, loosening it so he could relax and had poured himself a glass from the bottle of expensive Corellian whiskey he kept in his safe. He usually reserved the Whyren's Reserve for special occasions, but he needed something to take the edge off, and watching the proceedings from his comfortably furnished quarters hadn't improved his mood any. Rare artworks adorned the walls, and in one corner, a Nubian statue dominated the room, but their usual calming effects were lost on him, and he had found himself activating his remote observation suite.

Calm transmissions echoed through his quarters, giving status updates from all around the Iron Fist and the incoming gunships, and he idly switched his attentions from each one in turn as they came in, gritting his teeth as he heard Hoday's voice over the comm.

"Commander, you have to move the Iron Fist as far away as possible, as quickly as possible!" His voice sounded tired and rasping, as though on the edge of cracking altogether.

"Can you elaborate?" replied Pell's XO.

"Not over an open channel. Do you have a hyperspace course plotted?"

"We can jump as soon as you're on board, sir."

"Then do so. Tell Captain Pell I want to see him and his senior officers once we're under way."

A flat electronic voice cut in, announcing ETA in ninety seconds and that medical personnel were standing by, and Pell sighed, switching off the audio.

On the holo floating in front of him, turbo-laser blasts began to lance out from the Indomitable and detonated explosively against the rocky skin of the asteroid. The firing paused for a second before re-starting in earnest, laying down a formidable weight of fire and blowing enormous chunks out into space.

Pell frowned. The ship wasn't slowing as it got closer to the asteroid, and wasn't pulling around to deliver a broad-side, standard tactics when dealing with such a target, and he muttered to himself about the stupidity of the commanding officer.

He was still muttering when the tip of the Indomitable's nose buried itself into the asteroid, knocking it off-course and sending violent shudders up and down the hull. Watching in astonishment, he dropped the glass as the Indomitable's engines flared again, pushing it deeper into the asteroid, crushing itself against the dense rock and causing the stern to slew around.

The screen flared white and the view on his screen disappeared, leaving a bright after-image on Pell's retinas and making him blink. The deck vibrated beneath his feet and the engine pitch changed, and Pell knew instinctively that the Iron Fist had made the jump to hyperspace.

Pell glanced down at the glass at his feet and sighed at the waste of good whiskey.



***



Hoday sat with his legs hanging over the edge of the cargo bay of the gunship he'd arrived in.

The rest of the troopers that had been evacuated had already been marshaled out of the hangar, leaving the two Jedi, Orikih, Arkaan and Shane on their own with just the ground crews of the gunships, running maintenance checks and shut-down procedures on the returning gunships. Some were already being pushed towards their storage racks, whilst others still had pilots turning in their logs and signing the transports back over to the ground crews.

Orikih dropped down next to Hoday and pulled off his helmet, setting it beside him on the deck and scrubbing his eyes with enormous paws. Hoday barely acknowledged his presence, preferring to keep his gaze on his boots. The carbine he'd been using was on his lap, and the black plasteel grips had barely visible smears of blood on them, smears that Hoday's gaze kept returning to.

He shook his head.

"So many dead," he whispered again, having repeated it many times during the short journey back to the Iron Fist.

Reaching down, he pulled a small flask off his belt and took a long swig from it, gritting his teeth as the strong alcohol burned its way down his throat and relishing the almost immediate effect it had on him.

Orikih growled and yiffed at him, extending the claws of one hand and examining them closely. Hoday looked across at them and noted the dark blood caking them in surprise.

"You used your claws?" he asked.

The Wookiee nodded. It was a little known fact that Wookiees, being tree-dwelling creatures, had enormous claws that sprang from their paws, which were used by the hairy humanoids to move amongst the high branches of their home world, Kashyyyk. However, the use of the claws in anger or combat was strictly forbidden and an absolute taboo, and those that did were labeled as 'mad-claws' and exiled from Wookiee society. For Orikih to have used his claws in combat, even in a grief-stricken rage over the death of Raven, had added an enormous burden onto the Wookiee's shoulders, forever saddled with the shame of knowing he'd used his claws as weapons.

Hoday reached up with one hand and dug his fingers into the fur at the back of Orikih's neck, working his fingers in and rubbing gently. His other hand offered the flask, and Orikih took it, emptying the flask into his mouth and returning it unrepentant.

"If it helps," said Hoday. "You're more Mandalorian than Wookiee."

Orikih snorted and growled at him, making guttural noises under his breath. Hoday laughed bitterly.

"Perhaps you're right. I can't be much of a Jedi if I've already killed most of the men under my command."

A question barked out and Hoday nodded.

"Yeah, plenty more tihaar in my quarters. C'mon, I can see Pell after I've had a good nights' sleep."

Across the hangar, Marcla was sitting on a crate next to Arkaan, sharing a canteen of water. Arkaan's helmet was at his feet, having been dropped there without care, and Shane awkwardly approached the pair, a dark red object in his hands. He'd taken his helmet off, and dark stains and scuffs marked his bone-white armour.

"Sir, I…I should be writing up my report about the engagement, but…I'm not sure if I should, considering what happened. How can I really explain it?"

"Don't," replied Arkaan in a raw voice. "We boarded a strange vessel, were attacked, took heavy casualties and had to retreat whilst the self-destruct activated."

"Alright." Shane hesitated, making Arkaan look up at him. He was surprised to see uncertainty in the ARC lieutenant's eyes. "I can deal with almost anything thrown at me. I was bred for it, and trained by Fett himself to be the best, but…this was never in any of my training."

"Welcome to the real world, lieutenant. It's a horrible place."

Shane nodded and swallowed. He turned to move away, before remembering the object in his hands. He held it up, offering it to Arkaan.

"I was given this, sir. I think it's Raven's helmet."

Arkaan stared at it with red-rimmed eyes and his jaw worked back and forth, muscles bunching beneath his skin as they clenched. Beside him, Marcla pressed the canteen back into his hands and stood, taking the helmet and putting a hand on Shane's shoulder.

"I'll take it, lieutenant. Thank you. Dismissed."

Shane saluted and turned on his heel, smartly marching out of the hangar bay and out of sight. Marcla set the helmet onto the crate where she'd been sitting and looked at Arkaan.

"What do you think you'll do now?" she asked quietly.

"I'll stay with the 78th," he replied. "Or what's left of them. Hoday will need us. It's not easy losing so many men."

"Yes, I took a look at the figures. Out of a battalion of over five hundred men, we're returning to Coruscant with less than a hundred."

"Barely a company," muttered Arkaan.

"How long did you know Jay?"

"Only a few months. I pulled him out of a bar and stopped him from getting mugged, took him in and brought him with me when I was recruited by Raven."

"Yes, I was sorry to hear about his death. He was a good man."

Arkaan stood abruptly, towering over the Jedi. He had to bend slightly to look her in the eye, and did so, almost pushing his nose into hers.

"You didn't know him at all," he whispered. "So don't even try and give me any sympathy."

"I may have only known him for a short while…" she began, cut Arkaan cut her off with a finger to her chest.

"No. You didn't know him, so just shut up before I get angry."

"I fear you already are, Arkaan."

"Is this how Jedi are taught to deal with people who've lost two friends in one day?" He paused, giving her enough time to draw a breath to answer before cutting her off again. "No, you know, I don't want to hear it. Just stay out of my way."

He bent and picked up his helmet, glaring at Marcla before turning to leave. The helmet on the crate in front of him caught his eye, and he stared at it before grabbing it and stalking away with the hunched shoulders of an angry man.

A young ensign in a black uniform rushed into the hangar and hesitated, looking between Arkaan and Marcla before eventually deciding. He ran and caught up with the Mandalorian, stopping in front of him and saluting smartly, puffing out his chest.

"What?!" yelled Arkaan in his face.

"Sir, I…" the ensign stammered, caught off guard by the angry reaction. "We recovered something that I think you might want to see."

"This had better be good."

The ensign ran out of the hangar, closely followed by Arkaan. Marcla, having seen the exchange, followed at a discreet distance as the young man in the black uniform led the Mandalorian in his dark black and purple coloured armour to a small aft hangar bay, where rescue crews were crowded around a long, cylindrical object.

Steam and other chemicals were dripping off the dark grey surface, and two crewman in heavy protective clothing stood off to one side with hoses, ready to spray it again if necessary. A small crowd was gathered around another crew member that was using an industrial cutter to slice into the side of the pod.

As Arkaan arrived, the crew member finished cutting, and another crewman attached something to the section of pod that had been worked on. The crewman stepped back, playing out a long line and, after getting a few metres back, yanked on the line.

The door burst open from the pull, and four crew members immediately rushed in, one jumping inside, closely followed by another, whilst the other two stepped up and reached in. All four of them were pulling at something, manoeuvring it out of the pod.

A medical team rushed past Arkaan with a repulsor-stretcher and he moved after them, suddenly recognizing the cylinder as an escape pod.

As he got closer, the person they were pulling out of the pod came into view, and Arkaan stopped in shock as the medical team helped to get Jay out and onto the deck. Tears rose unbidden to his eyes, and his jaw worked, as though trying to say something, but no sound came out. Both of the helmets dropped to the ground as his grip went slack and his knees threatened to give way.

Jay looked up, saw Arkaan and smiled. He shrugged off the rescue workers and medics and walked on unsteady feet towards him. His face was haggard and lined, looking as though the ordeal had aged him, and his left arm kept twitching, but he pulled himself upright as he walked, determined to make it over to Arkaan under his own steam.

He stopped in front of the Mandalorian and, unsure of what else to do, threw a weak salute.

An unreadable expression crossed Arkaan's face, and before anyone could react, his fist came up and punched Jay in the face.

Jay fell, shock on his face, but Arkaan grabbed him by his armour as he fell and pulled him into a hug. Confused, Jay returned it, and the crews around them watching in an awkward silence, unsure of what to do.

Arkaan pulled back and wiped his eyes fiercely, as though embarrassed by his reaction, and clapped his hands onto Jay's upper arms. Jay nodded and blinked back tears of his own.

"I lost my helmet," he croaked sheepishly.

After a few seconds of silence, Arkaan burst out laughing. He knelt and picked up Raven's helmet, turning it over a few times in his hands before thrusting it into Jay's arms.

"Here," he said. "Raven doesn't need it any more."

Jay nodded and cradled the helmet, before a pair of medics gently eased him towards the stretcher and sat him down on it. One of them began to look him over whilst the other pushed it towards the exit, taking him to the infirmary to check him over.

As he followed, Arkaan walked past Marcla and thrust a finger into her face.

"This doesn't let you off the hook."

Marcla smiled.