After only the briefest moment of hesitation, the two Mandos saluted. “Yes, ma’am. We’ll find those hunters and regroup as quickly as possible.” The two them set off down the nearest hall to begin their search. But once they were out of earshot of Temari, Gida punched his cousin in the arm. “Your a real idiot, Nor.”



Meanwhile, my mother and I slip off to find a comm station. “Hopefully this can reach through the interference.”



“Shouldn’t be too hard. Sal used to hack into the Senate channel all the time to broadcast his messages. It is specially designed to cut through most interference in case of emergencies.”

"I wouldn't count on them being the same systems that the Revolution hacked into before. Jorg Sucal is no fool and I imagine letting the Revolution do their broadcasts before worked to his advantage."

"Right..." I cross my arms. "So it might be a little tougher than I thought. So what? We got this far, didn't we?"



"We did, and we'll get further. I know it." I peer into one of the abandoned offices, then see a comm station against the far wall. "Here we are. Think you can hack into it, Mom?'



"Simple." I go over to the station and begin to pry open the service panel to expose the wiring. "Maybe while we're at it making calls, I can see if Cosen's returned from her little 'mission' to find Stoneheart. I can't stand being left in the dark for hours on end like this."



"We can try it, but we contact the Droids and the Revolution first."

It wasn't long for the two Saxons before they heard the sounds of quiet conversation is rapid mando'ade. By following the voices, they would find the two Hunters in a room painted in dried blood. I would be speaking as they come in, switching into basic. "And I'm telling you that there was an execution that involved either slug thrower weapons or blades. And judging from the lack of bullet holes, it had to involve blades. Something isn't right in here."

The young Saxons enter the room, then immediately retreat half a step. We stare at the blood covered walls with a mix of curiosity and horror. Neither of us had ever seen anything like this before, but then again, we were both still fairly new to warfare. Both of us were still in our late teens, and had never seen large scale combat before Coruscant. And we had certainly never seen this much blood in one place.

“What happened here?”

"We're unsure, but I remain unconvinced that whatever did this is gone. The blood is dry but a couple of hours-" Avan cuts me off, putting a throwing knife into one of the walls for emphasis.

"There is nothing here, Treus! Even for us, you're being overly cautious!" I growl in annoyance.

"And I'm telling you that whatever did this killed whoever was here and somehow we can find no bodies or signs of struggle. This isn't right."

As the two bicker, I turn to Nor. "I don't like this. We should go back and warn the others."



"And say what? There is a psycho murderer lose in the building? I'm sure that will go over well." I walk towards the blood splatters. "Is there any way to analyze the scene? Maybe pick up a trail that could lead us to whoever did this?"



"Whoa whoa! You want to find them?"



"Yeah, before they find us, preferably."

The new argument between the two members of Clan Saxon interrupt mine and Avan's argument and as I open my mouth to intercede, all of us can hear the mechanical sound of something moving down the hall towards us, prowling almost like a nexu. "In cover, now." The four of us barely get out of sight before the droid comes into sight in the doorway, a feline shaped machine with a long tail covered in blades and what looked to be a hidden blaster turret in it's back, and who knew what other surprises. For a moment, it stood in the doorway before going back the way it came from at a run, two more running by shortly after it did. "We need to return to Temari."

I watch the cat-like droids pass, and my hand tightens on my blaster. I doubted it would be very useful against something liket hat, but it gave me comfort to keep my weapon close. "Right... Temari needs to know about this."



"You just said we shouldn't bother her."



"I changed my mind." I glare at Gida. "We need to get back and warn her, and held her to destroy these droid beasts. That's what loyal Mando'ade do. You are loyal, aren't you?"



I shrink back a little. "Of course. You're right, cousin. I'm sorry."

I rest a hand on Nor's shoulder as Avan looks down the hallway, checking to ensure it was safe to leave the room. "There are many ways to be both brave and loyal as a member of the Mando'ade. Lady Temari should be warned, but we have no time to hunt down these latest war machines of the Republic's, nor the numbers. We will simply have to make due." Once my partner has signalled all clear, the four of us head in the opposite direction of the droids, our weapons up all the same.

"What brings you out here to find us? I was under the assumption a plan would be found whether we were there or not."

“That was the plan, but then Nor suggested we go looking for you. I trusted your abilities to get the job done alone, but then that’s just me. If I had it my way, we’d have stuck close to that Revolution leader, Gavin Greshh. But... then again, I guess it’s good we discovered those droids prowling around. Otherwise, we might all have been blindsided.”

"Don't be so sure we still won't be." Avan and I were in the lead, but she walked backwards, here head never staying still for long as her modified rifle swept the darkness. "Those droids are designed to be assassins, unseen until it's too late to do anything about it. Hence why Lady Temari must be warned if any plan is to be successful." A series of howls echo through out the building, sounding both real and somewhat robotic, which illicit an unbidden shiver from the veteran warriors. "And it sounds like they like to hunt in packs."

[END SCENE]

For the first few minutes of the walk, the silence between myself and the Twilight girl is thick, neither of us willing to speak with the other, her due to both grief and anger and myself out of disinterest. I trusted Lady Temari and her judgement, but our Manda'lor was still young and prone to influence from the heart when her brain should be talking. However, eventually the silence becomes tiresome and I break the ice. "So, Twilight. How many did you kill after putting your lightsaber through that coward's chest?"

I remain silent for a few moments as I walk, not responding to the question. I didn’t really feel like chatting at the moment, especially with a Mandalorian. But, with nothing else to do, I decided to indulge their curiosity. “I killed three of his guards before fleeing, I wasn’t really in a mood to stick around and fight. I was more panicking and lashing out on instinct. Those were the first people I ever killed... I was not as accustomed to it as I am know.”

I nod, glancing down a side hall as we walk by it and then back to our front. "It's a strange feeling, the first time you take a life. For some, it's an adrenaline rush that pushes them to seek more opponents, to keep fighting and fighting and fighting. For others, it an aphrodisiac, acting as the catalyst for the birth of psychotic kyra'muds. Their only concern is the kill, they don't care if the person who's dying can fight back or sleeps, they just want the bloodshed." I shake my head.

"Regardless, we Mando'ade are taught at a young age that no kill is worth it without a fair fight for the opponent. Of course," I sigh, "aruetii like the late Bendak Starkiller forgot all of that, got caught up in the money offered in death matches. Stories say Revan fixed that though. Of course, there's the raiders he..." I pause and go over everything I had just said before sighing. "Suppose I'm getting off track. My point is, it seems your first kills brought you the focus of a warrior over the mindless slaughter lust of a kyra'mud. Keep that focus, because after this all blows over, you may need it."

Several more minutes pass after that, silence reigning once more as we walk. The landing pad was in sight now, the small shuttle sitting on it with the ramp down. However, now that I was taking the time to really look at it, something seemed off. I mentally chided myself, simply putting the blame on my overactive battle senses as we approached the walkway to it. "Lady Temari said to get you on any shuttle we found and get you back to the command center. I understand your reluctance to leave the battle and lust for vengeance for young Jude Sucal's death, but if that command center falls, the combined armies of both the Mando'ade and the Revolution will fail. You may be the difference between a loss that we'll never recover from and the victory that allows you grind your boot heel into Jorg Sucal's throat."

I adjust Jude’s body over my shoulder. I never wanted to put him down, even as his constant weight caused by whole body to ache. “Sucal will escape if I’m not there to end him myself. I can feel it. People try to tell me that I don’t have to take this all on myself, but I know they are wrong. It’s my destiny to destroy Sucal. I know that now more than ever.”

I look at the transport waiting for us, and past that I can see the cityscape of war torn Coruscant. I can hear the explosions and blaster fire from here, and the sky is choked with smoke. I can barely see the Mandalorian and Republic starships in orbit.

"Then take the steps to ensure you get there. A blind quest for vengeance is not the best path." I shake my head as we begin crossing the walkway. "I should know." Silence ensues again, but is quickly interrupted, as I stop and hold up a hand. The shuttle's ramp, which had appeared to have been lowered normally from further away, had clear damage on it, and only now did I notice the dried blood around it. My instincts roared at me that this was some kind of trap. "Something is hunting us..."

I stop, and my free hand grips the lightsaber at my belt. “Strange I couldn’t sense anything. Either I’ve lost my touch... or something is clouding my senses.” I pull my weapon off it’s clip and activate the violet blade. “Of course Sucal wouldn’t have left this place completely empty. The Republic troops were probably ordered to stay clear of this place so as not to spring the trap too early. But... what exactly could this be? Not average grunts. You think more droids, or maybe Dark Jedi?”

I draw my twin blaster pistols, opting to leave my rifle on my back for the time being. "No, even lightsabers don't leave this much blood behind. I'm thinking droids of some kind, probably assassin models." As if in response, a single droid stalks it's way out of the doorway behind the two, it's bladed tail lashing side to side as it prowled forwards. The feline-esque design seemed to surge with murderous intent, but the glow to it's eyes was a neon blue, and we could feel a sort of intelligence radiating from it. "This is new, likely a take on those big droids the armies are fighting now."

“Hopefully this is the last surprise variant of droid we see. My cousin HJ supposedly shut the whole operation down. Guess he wasn’t quick enough to stop this monstrosity.” I hold my lightsaber in a one handed Makashi stance; just about the only form I could manage while carrying Jude. “Never pegged the Chancellor for much of a cat person. Think he’ll mind if we dismantle his new pet?”