Kapitel 16: Chapter 015:

Chapter 15: Final Planning

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

Sector/System: Mandalore

Location: On Mandalore - Clan Gryphen Compound

Jack's POV:

After a great time, I felt much calmer and noticed the fog had cleared, showing me that more memories, even from times I wished I never remembered, were now available to me.

But it is what it is, slowly over time I'm becoming truly a combination of both me from here and from my old self.

I hope this will be completely finished soon because not knowing what I should know or remember is not a good thing, in the long run, at least now I have something to use as a way to dodge questions if need be.

But that is beside the point, even though I had a great time with Rin and Sera, I still can't believe they were made 'servants' they were already mine, and the gleeful look in Rin's eyes… to be honest it scared me, if not for that collar or choker really I doubt things will end well.

Need to talk to my mother and find out how to reprogram them or what would happen if they disobeyed, I rather not have those Explosive kinds.

"Master, we are needed in the command room for final preparations." the gleeful Rin said

"Rin, what did you wish to talk about, before things happened?" I asked her, watching her glee turn to nervousness

"Ehm… you see…you know… ehm…" I kept looking at her while she squirmed under my gaze

"Sigh, What I wished to talk about was about back then. I was so happy you took me to bed, only to find out it was just a 'one-night' for you, a mere triest, and you were gone when I woke up." she said

"I really wished for us to be together and I swore I would do anything to make that happen, at first I trained, but you ignored me. Then on your next visit, I made sure to have become a true warrior of the clan with enough experience and honor from missions…" She started rambling

"Then on your last visit, I made sure I was the captain of the chief's guard, and yet again I was ignored… now though, I'm yours in a roundabout way but I'm not leaving." I heard her finish, eyes shining and her posturing turning energetic and gleeful again

Sigh, that is not what I wanted, I knew this side and said no thanks, I remember one of the reasons why I became a trader, helping my clan and others was just a bonus, but getting far away from Rin's obsessive tendencies was the main point.

I rubbed my temples, seems I would have to be hard-handed against her… show her I was not the kind man she thought I was… maybe, it could also backfire.

I tried hard to think of something, to slowly quell that gleeful and obsessive nature of hers.

It reminded me of this… an anime? I think it was called. I remembered from my old world.

Why this one in particular and not my life, my job, family, or how I was but just this random thing? I guess it is due to my circumstances now, otherwise, I can't think of any other reason.

Anyway, what I remembered was this pink-haired banshee, with an obsession, to hell and back even willing to poison her team to run away to meet her obsession.

That was when we heard Sera finally speak up.

"We should hurry and not let the chief wait before she decides to do worse than these collars…" what Sera said, brought us down to earth and I started to dress quickly.

Rin also did so and before long all three of us were fully armored and armed and walked out of my room towards the command center.

— — — — —

Command and Briefing Room:

When we entered the room I saw everyone had already gathered.

I could even see the lazy bones commander in full gear, wide awake, so I knew this was earnest, like the final countdown to the show.

"Good, you three are here, if you were a bit later we would have left without you." I heard my mother say in a stern no-nonsense voice

'Seeing and hearing her like that, that is the one that led the clan to this point, seems she got over the mess that her emotions were. Like myself, I feel much calmer and in control after last night.' I thought, seeing her as the warrior, commander, and chief of the clan that she always was

"Of course, I would be here, without me you lot wouldn't be able to traverse the smuggler's route, and would be forced into the hands of the corrupt Republic Patrols on Pirate pay." I told her, with a shrug

To be honest, remembering the routes and how I got them was pure luck, gambling… Yep, that is all there was to it, gambling, someone wanted out and needed to get rid of the data pad with all the routes, and I won it, and being in full armor no one in their right mind stopped me walking away.

Well, I did have to kill the guy later when he found out it was the wrong data pad, and in turn, gave me another data pad I really should look into to figure out why he wanted to get rid of it so badly.

"Right, anyway's Deathwatch has agreed, therefore you will lead Chuck, Nora, and their group to attack a base, Butch will take care of another taking Alpha, lazy bones are taking Bravo to take the last small base out, he also takes Lark with him." I heard her say

This made me look again at everyone at the table and see Lark standing there with a smirk without his helmet on looking at me.

"Fine, as long he obeys orders I don't care who he goes with, as long it's not me. I have no patience for his childish rivalry and his whining about why I am better and end up making me beat his ass into the ground or kill him out of anger." I told them, watching that smirk of Lark's disappear

"That is why he goes with lazy bones, Butch has no patience in a battle for that crap either, and I'm staying here to hold down the fort with Charlie, Delta, and the others, Deathwatch was happy to get the main base, but when you finished with your own gather together and assist them." she told us

"Something you know that you are not telling?" I said in a gruff voice standing in front of my mother, actively pretending as if the 'evil' was coming out

I saw her body and the others stiffen, before giving the answering

"Correct, that base they go for is massive, and I mean massive, seems they were there for many years… that base is like a fortress, something you would see in Hutt space or in the hands of the big Pirate factions deep in their own territory." I heard her say making all of us react in some sort of surprise.

I could hear gasps, small curses under people's breath, and outride anger that it was let to happen.

"Show me what you have on that base, anything at all?" I asked her, as we watched the table flicker and show a holographic image of the base in question

What we saw was indeed a fortress, something we would not be able to take alone, and most likely not with no casualties.

Massive outwards stretching base of buildings, from tall to short, massive thick walls all with gun emplacements on top, with small windows here and there with machine-gun nest emplacements, all likely filled with laser mini gun repeaters.

"Those guns… they look like…" I tried to say but was cut off

"Indeed son, those are capital gun weapons, and the smaller ones are likely to deal with enemy fighters." I heard my mother's voice lower a bit

This will not end well for Deathwatch, they will truly take losses and damage, and if the corrupt patrols show up as well… they most likely would be wiped out.

"With what Deathwatch has available… I don't think they will do anything until the rest of us show up." I heard Chuck say, grumbling

"Now that is out of the way, let us go over the small bases in question." I heard mother say, watching her press a button

The massive pirate fortress changed to a much smaller base in question.

A large complex in the middle, with two hangar-like buildings stuck on either side, with a small wall with some emplacement guns to deal with fighter craft.

"This is 'base 1' Butch and Alpha will deal with this, as you can see there still in the state of the building, expect light fighter cover from the two hangars, and spars to light ground forces, this data was taken not long ago, maybe three days old, if you can get the command room intact try to find information, anything will do." she told us

"All information will be sent to you Butch so go get Alpha and brief them, when the others are done you will all be setting off at the same time." we all heard her say, as we watched Butch salute her and leave with his second in command

"Now for lazy-bones…" we heard her begin when he interrupted

"Chief please, I have a name." he was heard saying, to the snickering of the others, knowing what would come next

"If you can be as you are now in everyday, normal life… then I will use your name." my mother growled at him, making him slump his shoulders

I knew he was one of the best men we have, it is why his attitude is tolerated for so long.

"Now lazy-bones here will get Bravo and will deal with this base." she pressed another button and another identical base as the first one was shown

"Same story as with Butch but as you can see they are not building, and from reports they were sending shuttles to the base Butch is going towards, likely sending manpower to build there." she told him

I saw him salute followed by his second-in-command before they left, Lark though still standing there.

"Now for you Jack… you get this lovely last base with the Deathwatch remnants." I heard her stern voice tell me

As we watched the image change again, to a fully built-out base, the same as the other two but bigger, having an extra few buildings each with its own wall and some turrets on top.

"This one will be perfect, they have a command center, two hangars, a separate communication center, a warehouse, and this…" she pointed at the last building

"A large slave camp with a mining entrance." I heard her finish saying as I walked close to observe every little thing I could.

"Numbers?" I asked, and it was the young redhead girl that answered

"Unknown, we expect there to be around a few hundred, maybe more due to the slave labor camp and mining site, fighter cover is a must, however, due to the large-scale attack on the shipyard, these estimates might be wrong." she said before cowering when my mother looked at her

'She looks like a younger Rin, guess that is her little sister.' I thought.

"Good, we will expect moderate resistance that could escalate to high at any given time." I nodded saying

When the doors opened showing the lazy-bones coming towards us and dragging Lark away with force.

"You brat! when we're dismissed you leave! Not stick around like a whiny brat, what the Heir's mission will be is none of our concern!" the man growled

Looking at the flinching Lark it was with a strong grip

"Forgive us, chief, we expected him to follow simple orders and know a dismissal when it was given." Bravo's second-in-command stated

"I don't care if the brat dies, he either learns his place or is not needed in the clan." my mother's harsh words and tone of voice made Lark pale before he left and was dragged out of the room

"... by your leave chief." the man saluted before briskly walking away after getting a nod from my mother

"How can it be such a big difference between you and him… its almost unbelievable if I had not seen both of you grow up." I could hear my mother grumble

I wanted to say something, but that feeling that saved me during the shipyard situation was back, making me wisely stay quiet instead.

"You have your orders, dismissed, now the rest of you…" my mother said, making, Chuck, Nora, Rin, and Sera all salute her and walk out in quick order

All the while I just turned around and walked outside.

When we were outside all five of us, I quickly turned to Chuck and Nora.

"Go get the men, gather in the Kom'rk and the Fangs you arrived in, if you need anything make sure to inform me so I can get it from the armory before we leave." I told them watching them look at each other

"We could use some more heavy weapons, like rockets or handheld charges to get through doors." I heard Nora say, clearly unsure if they would even be allowed to have any of that, beyond what supplies they had brought

"How many of you? How many users do you have that are trained to handle all of it." I asked

"We had thirty people total, five are pilots, and good on the ground if the need ever arose for that. Me and Nora are in command, leaving twenty-three, no twenty-two, Odo is in the med bay recovering, and likely won't be up for at least a few months." I heard Chuck say

"He means out of the twenty-two remaining, each team has at least one heavy ordnance specialist and another demolition expert, all others have basic training." Nora quickly said, to deal with my confusion

"I see… that is basically five squads, one team will have fewer men due to Odo out for the count, you lot can have some of that, I know we are gonna be needing the rockets for sure to deal with fighters, possibly gunships or transports." I said, sending a quick message to the quartermaster of the clan

"Let us go, I send word to the quartermaster and he will be waiting near the entrance with the supplies." I told them, walking away to our ships

While walking I could clearly hear sighs of relief from behind me from Chuck and Nora.

'They came to my aid when I needed it most, and became traitors willingly, showing some goodwill in good faith should get them to my side fully in due time, besides we will need all of it if not more.' I thought walking away at a brisk pace.