Chapter 016:

Chapter 16: The End and Beginning

34 BBY (Before Battle of Yavin) - 2 Years before Canon

Sector/System: Mandalore

Location: On Mandalore - Clan Gryphen Compound

Before long, all of us were in our ships and traveling towards the edge of Mandalore space to jump to Hyperspace.

I will have to say, it had to look impressive from the ground. I mean watching so many ships leave all at once, all flying in formation as they leave the atmosphere, and then be joined by even more ships already waiting in space.

I'm just glad that in my clan there is no need for grand speeches and the like, just give orders and the equipment and go.

But all good things had to come to an end when Rin interrupted my thoughts, and the comfortable silence Sera and I had in the cockpit.

"Jack? when this is over…" I felt arms wrap around me and heard her say

"No" I harshly said 

"Boo, you did not even know what I was gonna ask." I heard Rin say

"I know what you want, and I will not grant it to you, have you not noticed something?" I told her

"But Jack…" I heard her whine

'Sigh, when this is over I'm gonna pretend I'll be taken over by the evil thing, and beat my mother up while I can get away with it, act as if I'm fighting against it so no beatings will come my way.' I thought, my eye twitching at hearing Rin ramble on

The reason why, I thought such, and shook my head soon after at how stupid it sounded, was due to Rin being here, in all her annoying obsessive self.

Would she act like her old self if I asked? maybe… doubt it she's still in the clouds of being here with me.

"Rin, you are nothing special to me and would not be the only one around…" I said in an attempt to see how crazy she really is, I need to know this so I can deal with it, and plan for the future

"I do not care! As long you keep me around, hell I will even help you, as long I am here with you." I heard her cut me off with this mad glint in her eyes.

"Maybe my little sister? She is docile and easy to mold to your taste. Oh right, what about…" I heard her ramble on and on

[Sir… would she really do what she's saying?] I heard Sera ask over shared coms since both of us were wearing our helmets.

[Sigh, Yes, yes she would, I hope that cruiser is done quickly because I'm not sure how long I'll be able to hold Rin off from 'Collecting Woman' for me.] I answered her

I would rather have the old Rin than this current one, but beggars can't be choosers I guess.

At least she's not the crazy I kill all other women to have you for myself.

If she had been 'that' I guess I might have just killed her, or maybe let her die during the battle coming up, I have no patience to deal with this while trying to remember everything and settle into my body and role in this universe.

"Rin, shut up, I get it so behave and be quiet for now, this is no time for endless drivel." I told her watching that glint be replaced with understanding and glee.

"Yes, of course! Mission, I can't wait to show you what I'm capable of." I heard her say, watching her finally leave the cockpit

"Sigh, I thought she would never leave us be." I said shaking my head, a hand at where my temple would be

"Understandable, but are you sure she would not try something weird? Many of the names she said are the few women I saw in the clan, and some are married and even more I know are of other clans." I heard Sera say

"Maybe, I just hope she focuses on the mission because it would save us a lot of trouble in the long run if we clean the pirates out." I told her when my coms blinked showing an incoming message

"This Is Jackal, Heir of Clan Gryphen, what do you need." I said after accepting the call and seeing someone from Clan Kryze.

[Greetings to you, Duchess Satine wishes to have a meeting. With your esteemed self and the Chief of your clan about the future of Mandalore.] I heard this man in a sickly green dress rope say with a frown on his face.

"Well maybe when we get back, at this moment, we are doing some drills and training exercises away from Mandalor, many new warriors to train and test." I told a white lie, mainly due to knowing, how those in the Duchess faction would react to our operation.

[... I see, I wish you good luck in this endeavor, and I will relay your answer to the Duchess.] I heard him say, wrinkling his nose as if he heard something disgusting.

And then he closed the call.

"Fucking hell, he's down the deep end of not being a warrior, just a few words about testing new warriors and he reacts that badly… sigh." I shook my head with a sigh near the end

"Sensors show that a large group of Deathwatch ships have left the asteroid belt and are about to jump to hyperspace… on the normal route." I heard Sera say in slight surprise

"Smart, but not smart enough, they are gambling that no patrol will be around, or have contacts among said patrols so they can clean house while we end up with the patrols." I said with a smirk

"We use a different route, so this is going to be good, in the long run." I told her as our fleet showed up at the edge dangerously close to the asteroid field I showed up in when I left hyperspace and arrived back home

"Everyone is showing green and ready to jump at the mark of the slowest ship." Sera said reading over the communication logs

"Good then send the signal and let us get this show on the road. Make sure to send word it will take about 12 hours to 15 hours to jump from here, and also to set alarms for 1 hour before exit to be fully ready for the party." I told her and watched her do just that.

"All done sir, everyone is ready to go." She said when I sent the order to jump.

A large fleet of multiple Kom'rk transport/fighter craft, fully loaded with troops all escorted by multiple Fang fighter craft, followed by my ship and a few corvettes with another two Frigates closing off the back line.

All jumped at the same time.

"Now the timer is ticking down, let's do some maintenance on our armor and weapons." I told Sera standing up and walking away with her quickly behind me.

"Quick question, why is Deathwatch joining us, when we have the, and I quote here, the Traitors with us." Sera asked using her hands to make the quotation marks

"Not sure how my mother got them to join, it all depends on what faction they are, Deathwatch has many groups, I'm sure a few are true to the old ways and not the close to Terrorist groups like most of them tend to be." I told her, not too sure myself.

"I see, guess we have to prepare and be ready for them being the worst sort." I heard her say while we walked to the workshop

"Say, Jack? how many kids do you want?" I heard Rin say jumping up from the couch in the lounge.

'This is going to need a lot of painkillers to deal with any coming and any future headaches.' I thought walking on trying to ignore the excitement and rambling of Rin.

— — — — — 

Location:  Mandalore - Duchess Satine's throne room

We can see a young woman sitting on the throne inside a grand palace, with a lot of luxury everywhere you look.

This young woman being somewhere in her twenties, was wearing a dark blue dress with purple highlights, and a headdress of twelve lilac-colored flowers, six on either side of the head, wearing light blue tusk earrings, this was paired with a purple headband keeping them in place with a dark red forehead plate with a blueish gem.

In front of this young woman stood an older man wearing sickly green dress robes, with a face of wrinkles and graying hair.

"Duchess, the heir refused to meet with you, stating they are busy with training new 'warriors of the clan'" the man informed Satine, with some disgust about the warrior part.

"Sigh, nothing to be done about this, if my father had not been so persistent maybe they would not have been evading any meetings for so long." Satine said, making the old man and many in the room frown due to the rumors of the duke fancying the chief of clan Gryphen, who was single like him due to the loss of their partner.

And the fact, that the chief in question believed them, refusing to meet the man ever, did nothing to assist the old Duke in the past.

"Nothing to do about this matter, we will wait for his return before we can try to have a proper meeting." Satine told the man

"As you command my lady, by your leave." the man soon left with a wave of the duchesses hand waving him away.

"Next report." Satine's melodious voice rang out

"My lady, we have reports from the Kryze patrol who fought the pirates before that Deathwatch left the moon of Concordia with a fleet of ships and moved towards the system jump point." a man in some type of grey knight armor said kneeling in front of the throne.

"Do we know of what faction they belong?" Satine spoke out

"No my lady, but we do know that a large fleet of Clan Gryphen went in the same direction." the man stated.

This statement made everyone unruly as everyone started to talk about the matter of why this would be happening, making the duchess frown.

"Investigate this matter, and keep a close watch on Concordia for any other Deathwatch activity, if there are any more movements inform me directly." the duchess was heard saying.

"Yes, my lady." and the man kneeling stood up and left.

— — — — — 

A few days later inside said throne room, during a meeting of Duchess Satine and her ministers. The doors were thrown open and a man in grey armor rushed inside.

"Duchess… reporting…urgent!" the man quickly knelled out of breath, making everyone look at him in shock.

"Take a deep breath, and calmly tell us this urgent matter." Duchess Satine was heard

"At once, my lady…" the man did that and was able to calm down slightly.

"Reporting, Deathwatch and the Clan Gryphen fleets who left in the same direction a few days ago have been found in a joined attack against pirates, results are unknown." the man reported shocking everyone in the room.

"This is worrying Duchess, could it be that they are in league together?" an older advisor stated

"Doubtful, the chief of Clan Gryphen is a prideful woman, she will sooner die than join hands with them, why else would she remain Faction less." another advisor spoke up

"We will soon know the truth, keep monitoring both sides, and report when either group returns." Duchess Satine ordered

'This is worrisome I fear the future will be tumultuous.' Duchess Satine thought watching the man leave