The Heir of Mandalor Part 2: Allies or Friends... or is it more?
Reader notice: apologies to those who have read the previous part of the story, but after looking into star wars legends and history, I have had to do some changes to a certain name.
Only a month had passed since the beginning of the Clone Wars, since the arrival of the Separatists on the Mandalorian colony of Maresh. And since then the formation of the Mandalorian Resistance, which had grown from a simple militia hidden away in the countryside using an old farm as a base of operations into a collection of different Cells, scattered across the planet and the rest of the Galaxy, each Harassing the Droid army and the traitorous militia lead by the new self proclaimed King of Maresh Tenner Rell.
Lor'Rick and his small militia was no longer that, each member was a highly trained Commando, capable of taking on even the smartest Commando Droid and come out on top. The Head Quarters had changed too, no longer a little farm in the middle nowhere.
And Lor'Rick had become a legend, his name was whispered through the streets, people were already talking about him being Mandalore himself, wearing the mask and wielding the blades, using the mark of Death, the three serpents fluidly forming the shape of a skull and delivering it and the promise to those who receive it. Everyday people heard about another droid patrol or bombing against the occupations forces, and everyday more supported them or joined them.
Chapter 1: A possible Allie
Atop the Jedi temple on Corusant, the Jedi Council gathered, masters from all corners of the galaxy, sat around in a circle. Masters Yoda, Windu, Plo Koon, Obi Wan, even other Jedi like Anakin Skywalker and his Apprentice Ahsoka Tano a young Orange coloured Togruta stood within the meeting.
They were speaking through communication hologram, It was Mira, one of Lor'Ricks Lieutenants. "What Lor'Rick is offering the Republic is support behind the front lines, all we asking for is help in the form of Fighters and Bombers that have hyper drives as well as the fuel to keep them going"
Obi Wan was quick to answer "That is rather a lot to ask for...."
A new figure came forward one wearing the dark black mandalorian armor and Mask of Mandalor "In exchange, one of the things we offer is something that your Republic needs, Intelligence.... As well as the support of my Commandos in strategic operations"
Master Plo Koon was quick to put forward a point "We have our Clone Intelligence, to what alternative information can your intelligence bring"
The Masked figure pressed a few buttons upon his left arm and showed a collection of Separatist cruisers, "How about the fact that the Droids are moving a fleet of ships to Felucia"
This was news to the Jedi Council, whom instantly began chattering among themselves, some would have expected a moment to discuss the proposal, Obi Wan put forward a very distinct argument "We cannot involve ourselves in acts of Terrorism"
Mira was very quick to return the argument "We do what we must is to free our home..... I don't see any Clones fighting here" the statement made the Masked fighter pull her in close and whisper into her ear, "I'm sorry it was wrong of me to say such.... I meant no disrespect" she said begrudgingly.
The figure returned to his proud stance and took over the conversation "If you are interested in the our Alliance, send three Jedi to these Co-ordinates here on Maresh, we might show them how we are fighting this war...... so that you might be able to make an informed decision" He bowed respectfully saying "We await your arrival master Jedi"
the Hologram began to die down until it all but gone, allowing the Jedi to discuss this possibility in private. Anakin Skywalker was the first to suggest it "This resistance can be of a great help to us.... they can provide us with not just intelligence... but they could also provide indirect assistance to our forces"
"How exactly would they be able to help us indirectly Anakin?" Asked Obi Wan,
Anakin stepped forward into the center of the room and put forward his thought "For example, we could have them launch raids against droid factories, munitions factories, fuel refineries"
Master Windu was the next to speak, with words and a manner of speech that partially supported the idea "They could deny the enemy what is required to continue an offensive"
The council all discussed in a quiet manner, some were against believing the proposal was too close to Terrorism and by supporting them they would be supporting Terrorists, some were cautious about supporting an "Heir of Mandalor" remembering the many wars the Republic and Jedi have had with Mandalorian extremists. Some saw the opportunity as a way of weakening the Separatist forces on the front lines. In the end a compromise was made, Obi Wan was the one to put it forward "Lets at least see what we might be supporting.... Anakin, Ahsoka and I could go to Maresh meet with this Heir of Mandalor, once there we can study whether or not such an Alliance would of benefit to the Republic".
The council passed the idea, the three would leave for the colony immediately to meet with the heir of Mandalor.
Chapter 2: We are Friends
The forest was empty, the darkness covering the night sky, moving almost silently through the forest branches were three figures, wearing hooded cloaks with their hoods raised, hiding their faces. As they moved between the trees watching the shadows for any dangers, two of the figures were similar in height whilst the third was slightly shorter.
Suddenly one paused, frozen in place. Suddenly from the shadows came a collection of men and women wearing Mandalorian armor wielding weapons ranging from long rifles, shorter blasters and some with pistols. All of them with jet packs on their backs, each with armor painted in different manners and styles.
"Identify yourselves Immediately" one shouted
The three raised their hands and removed their hoods, revealing their faces, Anakin Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano. "Its alright we are friends" Anakin announced
The warriors lowered their weapons in various ways, some returned them to their holsters, others held them in styles of relaxation and coolness, like leaning the weapon against their shoulders. The Leader stepped forward "Bout time, been waiting for 3 days for you.... come on.... we've got a camp not too far"
Raising his hand flat and straight he extended his arms towards a specific direction, which they all soon began too walk directly too. The three Jedi followed amongst the group, always keeping themselves ready for a fight, hands close to their lightsabers.
Slowly they came out of the forest and onto the open plains, in their sights was a collection of tents, speeders and crates. The resistance camp they all thought.
As they walked into the camp Anakin, Obi Wan and Ahsoka began to notice that the fighters weren't just Mandalorians, there were Twi'leks, Trandoshans, Wookiees, Kahleesh, Bothans, Sullustans and dozens of others. Not something that they had expected to see from a group called the Mandalorian Resistance. And all in the camp began to gather around watching the Jedi with both intrigue and caution, many had their hands on weapons, whilst others kept their distance.
They were brought to a large tent, which within held a holo map of the local area, around it were dozens of fighters, Including certain people that were clear leadership, including Felider, speaking to the different fighters and their specific Jobs. "We need scouts in these areas" "Reports have come in about patrols nearby" and dozens of other orders.
At least until he saw the three Jedi "Dismissed" he order, the fighters began to leave going about their individual duties. Felider waved his hand, inviting them in, the Jedi came in bowed their heads out of respect, "No need to bow to me.... I'm not the one you here to speak too"
Obi Wan and Anakin looked at each other in a puzzled manner, "Then where is your leader" Anakin asked. Felider waited for a second, then looked down upon the map again specifically the clock. Then an echo went out of a large explosion, followed by the cheering of all the fighters outside, within the other areas of the camp.
They ran out and saw the cause, a great amount of light far in the distance, and above that smoke funneling into the night time sky. Ahsoka looked about and saw the fighters almost on the verge of Celebration from the explosion, she guessed one thing "Guess the Resistance launched an attack".
Felider came out of the main tent and began to shout out "Alright.... Alright!! calm down!!...... we all know the drill.... with attack over we need to be ready to move out.... so start packing up..... when they get back we need to be ready to go"
The fighters calmed and then ran around gathering equipment and packing up other items, loading everything they could onto the large speeders and other vehicles. Soon a large humming sound came louder and louder, from the horizon as a collection of speeder bikes sped into the camp before coming to a sudden halt.
The Leading fighter, came to a halt just in front of the Jedi, "How was the raid?" Felider asked.
"We took out the Mine..... but we underestimated the Droid defenses.... lost three fighters" The leader paused, lowering his head after mention the loss of the fighters, "Six wounded as well...... need to move now... we had Droidekas on our tail"
Felider heard these words, and started shouting the same orders again, pushing for the fighters to get ready to go. "These the Jedi?" the Leader asked, Felider just nodded in response, "Get on a speeder Jedi..... We need to get out before the Droidekas find us.... we need to get back to base"
Once everything was on the speeders, and the Jedi visitors were aboard the bikes, the resistance made their escape, speeding across the open plains, faster than any droid.
Chapter 3: Head-Quarters
As dawn began to rise, with the sun slowly raising higher and higher into the sky, the resistance was still moving fast, those not driving started to drift off to sleep. Ahead of them mountains and hills began to come into view.
As they got closer and closer Obi Wan started to notice something, there was something hidden within one of the mountain valleys it was a collection of simple wooden and stone buildings. As they got closer the buildings finally began to make better shape, they were small houses, standing before a large mine from the looks of it, a large manufactured tunnel built into the mountain.
As the speeders came into the small village they slowed on their way into the tunnel, Obi-Wan was somewhat amazed, the tunnel was properly formed for defense, smaller tunnels were dug in the walls, leading to other location beneath the mountain. Yet they suddenly stopped moving, they were in large room filled with all kinds of vehicles, all of them fast speeder designs, some of the larger ones had larger weaponry attached to them, but none of them were actual military vehicles.
The Leader began ordering those around him "Alright, get the wounded into the hospital, weapons and ammunition stored away and don't forget to get something hot to eat and some sleep"
The fighters did as he ordered, helping those who were wounded, or by aiding in storing the equipment that they had on board the speeders. The Leader walked around towards the Jedi, Anakin was the first to speak "Now can we meet you leader?".
The Leader looked to him "I fight alongside my people" he stated slowly reaching up to remove the Mandalorian style mask he was wearing "That is why, the Separatists won't find me" They finally understood the person they came to meet, was standing before them, Lor'Rick, the so called Heir of Mandalor.
He offered his hand "Names Lor'Rick.... but I go by other Names.... Boss, Sir.... HEIR OF MANDALOR" The two masters merely bowed their heads out of respect, only Ahsoka actually shook his hand, after all they were about the same age, late teens.
"Nice to meet you... I'm Ahsoka" she said in a polite fashion
Anakin was next to speak, "I'm Anakin Skywalker, this is Obi Wan Kenobi"
Lor'Rick was now the one to bow his head, he may not like politics, but they were possible Allies. He waved them to follow, and they did so in a much more relaxed than before, "Come on" he said, "I'll introduce you to my Lieutenants".
They followed closely through the twists and turns of the underground base, but then they paused Commando Droids were coming in from the opposite Direction, yet they were painted., upon the face plate was the Mandalorian distinct T. Lor'Rick helped them to relax "Don't worry, a genius we have here has been able to hack the systems within the droids, making them fight for the resistance"
This made Anakin even more intrigued, a group that has Droids fighting for them.
As they walked Ahsoka noticed a very heavily built door, with commando droids guarding it "Whats in there?" she asked
Lor'rick looked to the door and mumbled a simple answer "That's a Secret Project".
They turned into a large room what resembled a miniature factory, within it though were droids of all kinds, standard battle droids, Super battle droids, Commando droids and droidekas. In the center was a large work table, a droideka was rolled up on it. In front of the table was a set of small steps leading up to the table.
"So where's this genius" Obi Wan asked
Lor'Rick turned around, leaned against the table and looked directly at them, "He's standing behind you". They quickly turned around and saw no one, at least until a waving hand began to come up, looking down they saw the hands owner, a Jawa, wearing the distinctive brown robes and hood, his face hidden with only his yellow glowing eyes. His unique Jawa squeels and sounds that make up their language, "Meet Ooteen.... one of the very few Jawas to not live on Tatooine"
Ooteen ran around the Jedi and made his way to the table, hopped up the steps next to the table and continued his work of figuring out how to improve the droids. "Ooteen worked in the Droid factories for a time... before they started treating him like a slave..... so he started to perform acts of sabotage, at least until we broke him and the workers out"
Three more people entered the room, a Trandoshan with dark black scales and a left arm significantly shorter than his right. A Green Twi'lek woman, and the Chagrian whom they had met before.
"Allow me to introduce everyone..... the Lizard with an arm partially missing is Kreez, his arm is still growing back after he lost it to commando droid, three weeks ago...." Lor'rick explained, Kreez nodded his head.
His voice was grouchy and crackerly, and he didn't speak the common language instead the ancient language of the Trandoshans, mostly through growls, clicks and grunts "(Translated) The Droid lost far more"
"Felider you've already met, former Bar keeper, and now expert in organization" Lor'Rick continued, "Finally we have our Twi'Lek Revolutionary Mira..... expert in Explosives, assassination and all other kinds of fear based attacks"
"Fear!" Obi Wan stated,
They all nodded their heads, at least until Lor'Rick explained "The way we do things here, is rather simple.... its not just about fighting droids using Guerilla warfare tactics.... we also use other methods.... like this" he threw a credit chit to Ahsoka, whom looked over it and found a engraved mark on it three serpents forming the shape of a Skull. "That there is the Mark of Death according to the old tales of Mandalor himself"
Mira was quick to take over "The legend says, that one of Mandalors Lieutenants betrayed him to the Sith.... so Mandalor sent that mark to him as a warning..... ignored on pain of death... to which he did.... at his own expense"
Felider was next to speak "We use this legend to our advantage... we send them to the Collaborators.... as a Warning and then fulfill that threat" the Jedi just stood there unsure, at least until Kreez used the finger across the neck movement.
"You tell them your going to assassinate them?" Anakin asked
They just nodded "We Announce it..... we let the people across the sector know.....people have come to us as far as Concord Dawn..... They rally to the Heir of Mandalor...... since Lor'rick revealed himself, people have been talking about him" Mira stated
"We have been using that to our advantage as well.." Felider continued "We want people talking about him.... he is the rallying cry.... the Message is simple"
Ahsoka stepped forward "Message?"
"That they know that Mandalor shall return, what will happen when he does and what is expected of them when he does" Felider ended the three Jedi stood in shock, they understood the process they were discussing, convincing the people to rise up when they see the Heir of Mandalor.
"But until then we have been using Economic Guerilla warfare" Lor'rick intervened
"What exactly is That?" Anakin asked "I have some idea about Economic warfare but Economic Guerilla warfare"
Mira chuckled after all it was she whom gave the system its name "Its rather simple, its all well and good, doing small raids against the Seps, their droids and military targets.." she paused to catch her breath "But when the Seps came they took over nearly every industry focused around the war effort against the Republic.... Mines.... factories etc."
Kreez took over the explanation "(Translated) so we destroy what they require to keep fighting.... to build droids, tanks and ship they need certain things.... metals.... circuits... power" he paused for a second with a painful look on his face, gripping his left shoulder. Inhaling powerfully he allowed himself to speak again "(Translated) we destroy such things, mines, factories, power stations.... if the Seps aren't getting anything from the sector, they will not want to waste money here and leave.... then the Collaborators will be on their own"
Lor'Rick began to move, waving his hand for them all to follow Lieutenants and Jedi alike, leaving Ooteen to continue his work in peace. He led them back through the maze of tunnels, until they passed a large open space, with a strong metallic floor and an large open almost hangar bay door leading out of the mountain, "This is why we need fighters and Bombers.... we have small transports that can travel through the sector with their hyper-drives linking our different Cells scattered across Separatist space" He paused continuing to lead them on wards "with a few bombers and fighters we can launch larger offensives.... attack the more well defended mines and factories"
They finally entered something that resembled a command center, with computer monitors and people working them all over the room, each off them talking amongst each other. But in the dead center of the room was a large circular Holo table, Lor'rick went around and stood opposite the Jedi, "With those ships we could help each other.." he pressed a button and a hologram was shown upon the table, a large collection of factory looking buildings "This is the largest factory complex in the sector.... its used by the Seps for multiple things.... the first section" he pressed a series of buttons highlighting in green a portion of the area "is primarily used for the manufacture of the various droid types, battle droids, destroyers etc.... the next part" one again he pressed another button highlighting another portion in blue.
"that sector is used for the construction of Separatist tanks such as Hailfire droids, spider droids both large and small...Octuptarras, AATs and everything else.... the largest sector of the facility" one last time he pressed a button highlighted the final section in red "Is used as a dry dock, where they construct vulture droids, hyena bombers, light and heavy cruisers etc"
He looked up to the Jedi "but there is something big, we don't know what but the Seps are using the facility to build something big, our spies say its a ship bigger than any cruiser they've ever seen....our attacks can slow down its construction.... but without bombers and fighters for support its suicide to launch an offensive on the facility"
Anakin finally spoke up "so we give you the ships you require and the fuel to keep them going, then you can attack this facility, and halt the construction of the ship...... won't they just move the ship elsewhere for construction"
Felider came around a corner and began to speak "They might..... but if they do... it would mean that your republic would have a better chance of finding it and destroying it" Skywalker finally understood after a second, the Separatist would move the secret project, but they won't be able to hide from Clone Intelligence, as they've done here.
Obi wan was now quick to put forward a major argument "You've only told us why an attack on this location would aid us... how would it help you?"
Lor'rick looked to his lieutenants they all nodded, in favor of telling the Jedi "The reason is simple, every single person working in that Facility are no better than slave labor, fed scraps, not permitted to leave.... over 2,000 people.... all of them were people who stood against the Separatists, even fought back against them, if we break them out.... then our numbers would have a major boost.... and just imagine how the Separatists moneygrubbers would react..... imagine how Gunray would react after hearing that the factory he payed for is nothing more than a pile of rubble"
They could hear the emotion in his voice all of them, Kreez was the one though to bring forth the final point "(Translated)It would bring us closer to setting foot in the capital.... it would show that the Return of Mandalor is coming"
Later on the three Jedi met in the relative privacy of the quarters provided by the resistance, a small room with a collection of bunk beds built into the rock of the mountain walls. "Well" asked Ahsoka "I'm sold.... i think this resistance is a good cause to support..."
Anakin nodded his head "I agree, and if they are building droids and ships here we need to stop it.... and we can't risk a fleet.... Lor'rick could open up a second front.... his resistance could take back this whole sector, if they are properly supported"
"The Cause is just Anakin...." stated Obi Wan "but the use of fear to instill resistance and inspire an uprising in which innocent people could be killed is not the Jedi way"
Ahsoka stepped up to the plate, "He's creating fear among the people?.... he is removing the fear the people have of the Separatists...... he is doing what we Jedi do.... stopping those who spread terror"
They talked into the night, arguing this way and that, on whether or not the Jedi order and the Republic would support the Mandalorian Resistance. In the end.
Obi wan was the first to state the decision aloud "Alright... so we are in agreement.... We'll support them"
Chapter 4: the Players and the secret
The following morning Obi wan and Anakin stayed within the relative privacy of the room provided by the resistance for their stay on Maresh. They activated a small disc holo communicator, as they did so they each pulled a small crate for them sit upon, when from the communicator came a holo gram of three specific Jedi, masters Mace Windu, Yoda and Plo Koon.
"We have managed to find some more information on the individuals you told us of" master plo stated.
The hologram became a collection of dossiers consisting of every lieutenant that they had met as well as Lor'rick himself. Master Windu was the next to speak through the hologram dossiers describing what it was they had found, "Mira Senna... has a long history of criminal acts across the galaxy" the hologram focused on Mira's file, showing a long list of criminal offenses under her name "According to our information she was a member of a radical group of twi'lek pirates who raided and attacked the Hutts as well as legal collectors of relics, both to free twi'lek slaves and claim artifacts from their home world.... for the pasts two years however she has no recorded crimes"
Next up came Kreez, "Kreez Byghal" master Plo continued the conversation, "Very little information on him.... mostly due to the Trandoshans refusing to give up information on their people..... one thing that does come up is that he was banished for taking a stand against the hunting of sentient beings"
"A very unusual Trandoshan" Anakin remarked
"Indeed... he believes that the hunting of Sentient beings is no better than murder... and as such is not a true hunt.... for arguing for such a belief he was banished from the Trandoshan home world and any and all worlds they control by his own family...... under pain of death" Master Plo finished
Obi Wan was quick to take notice of something "So when his family turned on him he sought something new... a place he can call home"
Anakin agreed with such a stance "Explains the many scars he has on him, in his mind he's fighting for the only place he can call home"
"Next is the one called Felider" Master Windu took over once again "What we do have is limited, Felider been arrested several times for involvement in dozens of bar fights in which he is believed to have severely beaten those involved"
"Then there is their Leader" Master Plo once again took the lead "From what we have been able to find.... the braces he has are the same that Mandalor himself used during his lifetime, from what we know they were forged with Kyber Crystals within them"
Anakin became very intrigued from such information "That would make the blades just as powerful as a light-saber"
"It took us a while but we were able to find some information.... and it does appear that Lor'rick truly is a direct descendant of Te Sol'yc Mand'alor himself.... other wise known as Mandalore the First" Master Windu Stated "Lor'rick is quite literally the last true born Mandalorian, the last of Mand'alors bloodline.... but according to all information and intelligence, he has lived most of his life as a farmer" This made Anakin and Obi wan begin to wonder one simple question "What would make him want to fight?"
Elsewhere Ahsoka was wandering the halls and tunnels of the underground base of operations, she was curious about many things, but also cautious about the fact that there were heavily armed Commando droids as well as Droidekas wandering around the base and the fact that it concerned no one except her.
She turned to her left and found the mysterious door guarded by a group of five commando droids, "I wonder he's hiding back there" she whispered.
"Wouldn't you like to know" a voice came, she turned in shock and fear shouting "WOAH"
She calmed seeing who it was Lor'rick himself "Don't do that...." she said punching him the shoulder, he just laughed at the scare he had given her. she took a deep breath before speaking again "You'll be happy to hear that we have come to an agreement... and we're going to support the idea of the Republic supporting you"
"I didn't ask for the support of the Republic...." he stated "I asked for the support of the Jedi.....After all its the Republics Faults that lead to this was"
"What do you mean?" she asked
He smiled simply and continued to explain "Well the Republic is a fixed system correct" she nodded "That means the system of taxation is equal for all planets, no difference... and well there is one fault.... how is fair that a poor agricultural world like ours has to pay the same as a planet that can pay more that really is..... how is it fair that the people here have to work twice as hard so they can pay the taxes and put food on the table whilst other more prosperous worlds can put their feet up"
Ahsoka grew concerned he was sounding more and more like a separatist "Now don't get me wrong..... I am not a supporter of the separatists.... but the republic is too focused on money, not the greater good"
Ahsoka was quick to step up "And that's what you want, the greater good?"
He smile again and began to point things out in the hallways and tunnels "Look around.... what do you see?"
She looked about and saw many things "I see Mandalorians, Quarren, Wookiee, Trandoshans, Twi'lek and.... I could go on"
"Well I see none of those.... I don't see Mandalorians, Quarren, Wookiees, Trandoshans or even Twi'lek..... no you know what i see?" Ahsoka shook her head, "I see people who are willing to put aside the past and stand together, not as Allies, but as One.... they are willing to stand up and say I am Free" Lor'rick proudly stated.
Ahsoka looked about her and realized he was right these people were standing together, for she could see a wookiee and Trandoshan helping each other carry a munitions crate down the hallway. These two races should hate each other for their shared history, yet here they were working together, helping even fighting together like they never had any anger towards each other.
Lor'rick flicked his head "Come on.... I want to show you something" he began to walk for the guarded door, Ahsoka began to follow, the Droids guarding it simply stood aside and allowed them to pass, the door shot open and closed behind them "Now you've seen the commando droids and droidekas we use" he said, too which Ahsoka nodded "Well we do have other kinds, standard battle droids and super battle droids... but we use them for something else"
they walked through a heavily guarded hallway, with commando droids, Mandalorian warriors on either side "We've been using them too build something.... something that would make a statement when the enemy see it"
She wondered what it was he was discussing, as they walked they finally came to the head of the hallway. A room of monumental size, larger than the Hangar bay she had seen the previous night, this one was so large it could hold a small ship, and she could see why.
The Hangar was a makeshift dry dock, within it was a ship under construction, a long streamlined ship with four large engines at the back the bulkiest section of the ship, the engines were held on a set of large wings which curved backwards before heading straight to form a straight rear section. Two on either side, it then moved forward towards a slightly curved tip at the very front with two smaller wings pointing diagonally backwards. It resembled an escort class cruiser, but seemed large enough to hold a small army and small enough to be very maneuverable, from the size of the middle. It had weaponry stretching along the top and bottom as well as a large main gun housed below and back from the nose at the front.
All over it were droids of all kinds, battle and super battle droids working upon it, attaching armor and finishing its construction. "Your using them to build an freighter?" she asked
Lor'rick shook his head "We're building a symbol... saying I'm the Heir of Mandalor is all well and good but having a ship to lead the assault that will reclaim our home.... that is a true statement" he explained "A statement that we aren't just insurgents, we are an army.... an army that won't stand for the oppression of our people"
Ahsoka began to understand, the ship wasn't just a weapon, it was a tool for them to rally the people. She could imagine it, she imagined the ship landing in a city, Lor'rick stepping off the ramp and the people rising at the sight of him.
"I am willing to stand up for everyone, I don't care where they are from.... what species they are... I only care what is on the inside" He continued pointing to her heart "But the Separatists may speak of freedom away from the Republic.... but they aren't willing to care how they do it.... Later I will be showing you and your friends what the Separatists have done here... you and your Masters, you can use it as a little propaganda gift.....But the ship well We've begun calling her the Mandalor" he began to chuckle as if the name was similar to a joke.
Chapter 6: Scorched Earth
Later that day the four of them were speeding across the plains, in a single speeder, a four seat holder. Obi wan and Anakin sat in the back whilst Lor'rick drove with Ahsoka in the passenger seat to his left.
They sped across the empty grassy plains, the Jedi trio looked over the plains and admired the beauty of the land to which the resistance was fighting for, and they could understand "I see why you fight for this world so ferociously.... the land is beautiful" Anakin shouted over the sound of the speeder.
"Its not just its beauty we fight for" Lor'rick stated, "Some are fighting for vengeance, for those they lost.... look up ahead"
they did so and what they saw shocked them all, the land had gone from green and yellow of the grass plains to nothing but black scorched ash. Beyond that was a small town, or what was left of it.
The speeder came to a slow and steady stop in the dead center of the town, they all hopped out they boots sinking slightly into the ash covered soil.
The entire town was in ruins, every building was burnt to the ground, yet the scorch marks were old this act had happened months before they had arrived. Lor'rick guided them around "When Tenner Rel invited the Separatists, he put forth a strategy for a quick victory, the droids and his militia would.... would" they call all tell that he didn't like discussing it, he had tears forming in his eyes and his voice was becoming more and more stuttered.
Yet he continued "They would burn down a town or two as a message.... to the Capital.... Surrender or Burn..... they killed everyone in this town... none survived"
Ahsoka shocked at such a thing almost whispered her words " All this just.... to send a message"
Lor'rick turned to look at her, waving his hand to follow, they began to walk through the empty central street. Until they turned a corner and found something even worse than a scorched town, what they saw was a collection of hundreds of Skeletons, covering every open space of the towns streets and alleys. "We saved one town, me and my friends when the Seps invaded.... but we didn't know about this until days later"
They all stood still, just staring at the endless skeletons ranging into all sizes men, women and children all of them slaughtered to send a message. "Many of the fighters are in it for vengeance, they want Tenner Rel to pay for what he did here..... that's one of our rallying cries.... Remember the Blood they shed" Ahsoka could hear a certain pain in his voice, and she could feel something through the force, he was experiencing a recurrence of pain and loss, he knew someone here.
Turning away from the skeletons he walked back to the speeder Obi wan was curious though "I take it you knew people here?" he asked
Lor'rick just paused, stopped in his tracks "The people here were farmers, but I know it as the place where I was Born" his voice was filled with sadness, they knew it and they could tell that even though he had lost his home, he was not vengeful for this destruction here, yet Ahsoka knew it was something more she could sense it. "You might think of us as Terrorists in some retrospects master Jedi, but we are doing what we have too...."
They heard these words and in aspect his was right, they done a lot with the limited resources they had, but now like he said they can do oh so much more. They all returned to the speeder and sped across the plains returning to the base.
Lor'rick was slowly starting to see the Jedi trio as friends not just allies, especially Ahsoka, who seemed more understanding of the three. "So why Heir of Mandalor.... why not just Mandalore?"Ahsoka asked
"The same reason I didn't tell people who I was, I call myself Mandalore then just like everyone else who claimed the title after Te Sol'yc Mand'alor died.... " Lor'rick explained " Just a Man....But if I was to make myself appear something other than a man.... then I would be seen not as a Hero or a Villain by either Republic or the Separatists.... no I would become a Legend..... a Legend that the Resistance feels compelled to rally around"
Chapter 7: We need to Run
After a few days of understanding the Resistance, Lor'rick and Ahsoka has slowly become good friends, they both understood each other, both of them were doing what was necessary to protect people, she being a Jedi and him being a warrior.
Yet soon things would change, for soon the Jedi would have to leave but at the least they had come to achieve their goal, discovering whether or nor the Mandalor Resistance was worth supporting. Within days a shuttle arrived to take them home, Lor'rick saw them off and even thanked them for giving the support they require to win the fight.
As their shuttle pulled away, everyone's' eyes soon turned to other objects, at first they thought it was the help that was promised, Republic bombers and fighters. But Lor'rick suddenly noticed their movements, he froze in fear of what he could see.
An immense explosion rocked the underground hangar bay, as the Shuttle carrying his Jedi allies erupted into flames. The fighters around him fled or fell back from the flames, but not Lor'rick, he charged into the flames of the wrecked shuttle, he needed to find his allies.
sifting through the rubble that was the inside, he found Obi wan Kenobi, covered under metal scraps. He heaved and pulled trying to get the metal off, yet with every inch of his strength he couldn't move it an inch.
Then from the smoke came Anakin Skywalker, who ran to assist him, using his force powers to heave the metal off his former master. "Get your friend out, I'll find Ahsoka" Lor'rick shouted, Anakin just nodded grabbing Obi Wans left arm and pulling him over his shoulder, slowly carrying him out of the wreck.
"Ahsoka!"Lor'rick shouted but to no reply, he shouted again "Ahsoka!... where are you?!!!", he pulled himself up the open space leading to the pilot seat, it was empty, but turning to look at the co pilots seat he could see her. Dropping down faster than ever before he moved to the co pilot section, using every inch of muscle to get himself up to help her. As he finally reached her, he could see what was happening outside, it was an attack, the entire hangar was under fire, droids were marching into it, with the outnumbered resistance trying desperately to hold them.
He grabbed Ahsoka, whom remained unconscious, and carried her out. Running down the ruined ramp of the shuttle door and into the hail of laser fire. From behind him came a blast of force, throwing him and Ahsoka forward, landing on his stomach he found himself dazed, everything sounded distant, even people close by sounded further off.
A droid came up to him and pointed its weapon, yet before it could pull the trigger a laser blast struck its head. Lor'rick looked to his left and saw his friends, Kreez firing his rifle, Felider with his shotgun and Mira with her dual pistols all of them firing from behind crates at the back of the hangar alongside other resistance fighters. Mira shouted over to him waving her left hand still gripping the pistol, but she sounded ever so far away "MMMMOOOOOVVVVEEEEE!".
He pushed himself off the metal floor, grabbing Ahsoka again and once again ran, ran faster than ever before trying to get to the relative safety of the crates the Resistance was using for cover. After doing so, he tried to regain his senses, shaking his head back and forth, hitting his ears with an open hand.
"What do we do Lor'rick?" a voice shouted, Felider came running, slapped Lor'rick in the face and made things oh so much clearer "I said... what do we do now?"
Lor'rick now hearing clearly, his mind focused again, nodded "Alright listen up" he shouted, he grabbed his ancestors mask and weapons, and spoke through the communicator within it "This Lor'rick.... to all fighters... we can't hold the Hangar, retreat now, evacuate the base..... I repeat Evac now.... we're abandoning the base"
Those around him couldn't believe it, he was ordering them to run, yet they all knew what he was doing was right, they were no where near ready to engage the Separatists in open battle. The fighters began the process of Fire and retreat, each squad providing covering fire for those retreating before retreating themselves. "Alpha, Bravo, Calico, Delta units, get to the armory save what you can.... get them on speeders then run"
They heard the order and ran, making their way to the armory and speeder garage. "Echo, Quarren, Zulu units head to the Mandalor.... we're using it for our escape get her ready to fly.... I need volunteer units to hold the line long enough for us all to escape" Lor'rick paused waiting for the units willing to do so call in, he expected one or two but he was surprised.
"This is Khen.... we'll hold the Hangar with Tango" A voice came
"This is Indack, we've got wookiee boys with us.... we'll hold the Command center for as long as we can"
"Unick here, we've opened the doors to the Mandalor hangar and the ships ready to go... we'll hold the clankers off"
"Oscar here.... we've got Sep tanks and droid battalions marching on the main doors.... we can hold but not for long......" Lor'rick refused to let them die for nothing.
"Negative link up with Alpha and Bravo in the Garage" he shouted through the communicator
"We can't......the tanks and spiders... have us pinned..... we can't get to the.." the final word came, for afterwards was only the sounds of battle, explosions and screams. Lor'rick just fell back, he was listening to the people who rallied to him being slaughtered.
"Lor'rick!" a voice shouted, he turned to see Ahsoka finally awake from her shuttle crash, "We need to run" She, Anakin and obi wan had joined the fight, covering the retreating resistance with their lightsabers blocking incoming fire.
Lor'rick stood up and began to wave his hand firmly "Fall back!" he shouted "Everybody.... fall back to the Mandalor..... Ahsoka, Skywalker, Kenobi, you too.... come on" the three Jedi heeded these words and followed the retreating fighters, alongside Lor'rick, Felider, Kreez and Mira.
They all fled through the rumbling rock hallways, Kreez paused to grab a running Jawa, Ooteen, despite the Jawa shouting and screaming Kreez held him in the hook of his left armpit, his arm stretched around Ooteens waste.
They kept on running hearing the continued fighting across the base they had called home for some time. Turning to the mega hangar holding the Mandalor cruiser, they found destroyed commando droids and dead resistance fighters, they continued to run, for the ship was their only means out of the base now.
As they came to the Hangar, they found a battle field. The surviving members of the units allocated to defending the ship were still fighting, but losing bodies of different species dotted across the Hangar alongside resistance and separatist droids. Above them the finished cruiser ready for launch.
"RUN.... GO.... get to the ship"Felider shouted.
And they all did, each of them, every fighter, leader and Jedi running for the ramp leading into the ship. But as they did Felider lead the fighters in providing cover, as the ship rose up, the ramp slowly got further and further away from providing a means of getting in.
"Wait" Lor'rick shouted over the communicator to the pilots.
"Just go......get out of here.... we'll buy you some time" He shouted up them, as he and the other remaining fighters kept firing their weapons into the waves of oncoming droids.
Lor'rick didn't care he wasn't going to leave a friend behind "Get us back down their now!" he ordered the pilot.
Up in the cockpit however both pilots could see that they couldn't "I don't care what you orders are sir.... we've got tanks coming in through the doors"
Lor'rick looked to the massive opening and saw they were right, tanks of different sizes slowly coming through, if they didn't leave soon then they would pulverized by their main guns. "Give us two seconds to grab Felider and the others"
The co pilot soon took over shouting through the communicator "We stay... we're all dead"
The ships ramp quickly began to retract and close up, and all they could do was watch as the hatch closed and their brothers in arms and close friend Felider was left to fight alongside various fighters of the resistance.
The next thing they could feel that was not an emotion was the sudden jolt as the ship shot forwards out of the hangar and across the plains. Lor'rick looked about him, and what he saw made him feel even worse, before today the units defending this ship during the assault numbered well over 30 fighters each now though. The wounded crying, their blood pouring onto the metal floor of the cargo bay, and the dead covered by simple blankets, these units now only numbered 4 to 6 fighters each if they were lucky, combined they numbered no more than around 18 not including Mira, Kreez the Jedi trio and himself, not enough to properly man the Mandalor.
Under him the resistance had risen and now it had fallen, before they had a base of operations, were on the brink of a great strategic strike against the Separatists. Yet now the resistance was a scattered, loosely connected collection of different Cells across separatist space.
He had hit rock bottom, wondering how the droids could have done such an effective offensive, when from the survivors came a wounded mandalorian "Sir.... I don't know if its relevant but.... I thought you should know that..... I think I know who lead the assault on the base"
Lor'ricks interest and that of the Jedi peaked "Tell me" he asked motioning the fighter to sit down, upon a small crate, allowing him to rest and catch his breath.
"Well sir.... before the assault, one of our spies reported a visitor on the planet, here to see the ship being built at the mega facility..... well I think i saw him in the assault" the fighter explained
"Who?" Obi wan questioned
"Well sir, he was cyborg, he seemed to be wearing a Kahleesh war mask and he had this weird, grouchy cough"
Skywalker connected the three descriptions "Grievous!" he stated
Ahsoka stepped in "well that explains a lot.... If their building some kind of weapon here.... Grievous would be interested"
Obi wan was next to speak, "And it would explain the attack on the resistance, Grievous wants the weapon as quickly as possible, and the your resistance is delaying its construction"
Mira came up to Lor'rick concerned about something "Communications are up and running.... but" she paused
"But?" Lor'rick asked
"Morale is at a down low..... reports have come from the other cells.... all of them are saying the people are losing hope" she finished her statement. Lor'rick was frozen, he wasn't sure what to do, everything the resistance had been building up too was a major offensive on the largest Separatist droid factory, then launch an uprising. Now they had barely anything, a single ship with a skeleton crew, a loose collection of scattered resistance cells and alliance with the Jedi that is on the brink of breaking.
"We reforge the plan, we still attack the Sep mega-factory..... but we're going to switch things around...." he stated "Instead of launching an attack then instigating an uprising, we're going to switch the two"
They all looked to him with a questioning look, "Now the only way I think that they found the Base was via a spy.... so we find the spy and "Accidentally" let them see our plan"
Kreez finally clicked onto the idea "(Translated) We let them think our plan is one thing, then do the exact opposite"
Mira stepped in "I'll print some false documents.... plans for the factory and infiltration orders"
"While your at it..... get the comm ready I'm going to give a speech" Lor'rick proudly stated
Chapter 8: A Promise
Across the sector people were somewhat relaxed, concerned, drowning their sorrows. In cantinas across Maresh, System and Sector, people hoping for liberation were just sitting in silence, barely any music was being played.
The markets and streets across Maresh people went about their daily business, buying and selling from stalls and shops. When a man wearing Mandalorian armor come running through as fast as his legs could carry him, as he runs he throws down a bag of some kind. From the bag came a small holo disk, which rolled around into the crowd, the Mandalorian just kept running ignoring the disk his bag had lost.
Following close behind were other Mandalorian armor wearers, however unlike the previous runner whose armor was black mixed with blue lines, these were red with black linings. They paused however after noticing the holo disk, instead of continuing their chase, they began to gather around, at least until they followed protocol, one man goes forward while the others step back in case of explosives.
When suddenly an immense hologram springs out from the disk, taller than a giant the Hologram was Lor'rick wearing the Mask and Armor of Mandalor. In cantinas across the sector people saw the same, the leader of the resistance on the large screens that would previously show the holonet.
"People of the Galaxy.... this is Lor'rick..... but many would know me better as the Heir of Mandalor..... at this moment I can only hope you can hear me.......You may have heard that the Resistance has been defeated......our attacker is attempting to take away our freewill..... our individuality..... our unity....." he said as people began to gather around the hologram in the streets and the Holonet in the Cantinas. "When facing an occupation such as this..... its easy to retreat into ourselves....Believe me I know.....I lost my baby sister when Tenner Rell took over with the droids...."
Those around Lor'rick heard say these words as they recorded and broadcasted him. They knew there was something else that was pushing him in the fight, when he said that people were for looking for revenge, he was one of them.
"She was barely a year old.... when Tenner Rells men and Droids burned down the village and Orphanage she was being raised in......When I found out... all I could think of was how Alone I was...... but I've since learned that there is so much love in our Galaxy....." People everywhere could feel their eyes slowly fill with tears even those who were watching Lor'rick send this message "It was those around me..... they were ones who helped me find what it was I was fighting for..... They helped me..... they helped me become more powerful than I ever thought possible....The power they gave me was Love.... and Hope"
The Jedi trio heard these words, as the most important, each of them hearing something different Obi Wan heard the words of a person trying to remove the fear the people had. Anakin heard a man who was trying to speak the truth in a galaxy of lies, Yet it was Ahsoka that heard the most emotional part, she was hearing how people made Lor'rick a better man, how the love he had for those around him made him strong, how love helped him find his cause. She began to remember, specific memories of the two of them, them meeting each other for the first time, him scaring her, her punching him in response, she smiled at remembering them, she even felt a tear trickle down her cheek.
"Love they gave me... brought me back to the cause that is truly worth living for...... And that kind of Love can never be taken away...... no matter how hard they try"
For Kreez, it was the memory of the hunts they had together, meeting in the cantina for drinks and laughs. Mira remembered them celebrating certain days, laughing, making jokes etc. Each of them knew he was telling the truth, they did care deeply for him, like a brother. Hell they both knew one thing, they loved him like a brother.
"And I know that in each and everyone of you there is that same light....... A fire... that cannot.... will not be suppressed.... that will not give up...... I need your help now...... I need you all to believe in something..... not me...... not the legends and stories surrounding me...... but Hope......Hope!....That each of you can be free..... Hope.... that should they try to take your freedom, that you will rise up and find your freedom again.....Hope, that those who may have shunned you in the past, Will stand with you in battle......"
He paused for a second taking a deep strong breath. But as he did the people rallied, in the Cantinas people whom had once shunned each other were now standing alongside each other, in the streets the people were rallying as well, species that once hated each other were now gathering around the hologram as if they were neighbors.
"Hope, that you will find and see those that you love again..... and perhaps even those you have lost...." Lor'rick could now feel his mind drawing memories from his past, he remembered seeing his mother one last time, after his baby sister had been born. Most notably her last words to him "I love you.... Lor'rick"
Breathing again Lor'rick gave the grand finale "So I am begging you..... Hope and Love again.....because its the only way... we can survive..... the only way we can be free again..... so please stand with us.... don't rise because of me.... but because.... if we don't then we will lose not just our freedom but our souls...... this Mandor Lor'rick" This was the first time any of them had heard him speak his full name ever.....not even Kreez and Mira had heard him say it. The recording ended and Lor'rick breathed far easier, "Think anyone heard?" he asked those around him.
Ahsoka was the only one to step forward "They heard!" she replied proudly.
And she was right, people all over had heard, never mind just on Maresh, but across the sector. People were rallying to the resistance and not just that but also there were people beginning to take a stand against Rells militia and the droids marching through their streets. People weren't just standing up, they were rising.
The Mandalorian Resistance had become the Mandalorian Uprising.
Only a month had passed since the beginning of the Clone Wars, since the arrival of the Separatists on the Mandalorian colony of Maresh. And since then the formation of the Mandalorian Resistance, which had grown from a simple militia hidden away in the countryside using an old farm as a base of operations into a collection of different Cells, scattered across the planet and the rest of the Galaxy, each Harassing the Droid army and the traitorous militia lead by the new self proclaimed King of Maresh Tenner Rell.
Lor'Rick and his small militia was no longer that, each member was a highly trained Commando, capable of taking on even the smartest Commando Droid and come out on top. The Head Quarters had changed too, no longer a little farm in the middle nowhere.
And Lor'Rick had become a legend, his name was whispered through the streets, people were already talking about him being Mandalore himself, wearing the mask and wielding the blades, using the mark of Death, the three serpents fluidly forming the shape of a skull and delivering it and the promise to those who receive it. Everyday people heard about another droid patrol or bombing against the occupations forces, and everyday more supported them or joined them.
Chapter 1: A possible Allie
Atop the Jedi temple on Corusant, the Jedi Council gathered, masters from all corners of the galaxy, sat around in a circle. Masters Yoda, Windu, Plo Koon, Obi Wan, even other Jedi like Anakin Skywalker and his Apprentice Ahsoka Tano a young Orange coloured Togruta stood within the meeting.
They were speaking through communication hologram, It was Mira, one of Lor'Ricks Lieutenants. "What Lor'Rick is offering the Republic is support behind the front lines, all we asking for is help in the form of Fighters and Bombers that have hyper drives as well as the fuel to keep them going"
Obi Wan was quick to answer "That is rather a lot to ask for...."
A new figure came forward one wearing the dark black mandalorian armor and Mask of Mandalor "In exchange, one of the things we offer is something that your Republic needs, Intelligence.... As well as the support of my Commandos in strategic operations"
Master Plo Koon was quick to put forward a point "We have our Clone Intelligence, to what alternative information can your intelligence bring"
The Masked figure pressed a few buttons upon his left arm and showed a collection of Separatist cruisers, "How about the fact that the Droids are moving a fleet of ships to Felucia"
This was news to the Jedi Council, whom instantly began chattering among themselves, some would have expected a moment to discuss the proposal, Obi Wan put forward a very distinct argument "We cannot involve ourselves in acts of Terrorism"
Mira was very quick to return the argument "We do what we must is to free our home..... I don't see any Clones fighting here" the statement made the Masked fighter pull her in close and whisper into her ear, "I'm sorry it was wrong of me to say such.... I meant no disrespect" she said begrudgingly.
The figure returned to his proud stance and took over the conversation "If you are interested in the our Alliance, send three Jedi to these Co-ordinates here on Maresh, we might show them how we are fighting this war...... so that you might be able to make an informed decision" He bowed respectfully saying "We await your arrival master Jedi"
the Hologram began to die down until it all but gone, allowing the Jedi to discuss this possibility in private. Anakin Skywalker was the first to suggest it "This resistance can be of a great help to us.... they can provide us with not just intelligence... but they could also provide indirect assistance to our forces"
"How exactly would they be able to help us indirectly Anakin?" Asked Obi Wan,
Anakin stepped forward into the center of the room and put forward his thought "For example, we could have them launch raids against droid factories, munitions factories, fuel refineries"
Master Windu was the next to speak, with words and a manner of speech that partially supported the idea "They could deny the enemy what is required to continue an offensive"
The council all discussed in a quiet manner, some were against believing the proposal was too close to Terrorism and by supporting them they would be supporting Terrorists, some were cautious about supporting an "Heir of Mandalor" remembering the many wars the Republic and Jedi have had with Mandalorian extremists. Some saw the opportunity as a way of weakening the Separatist forces on the front lines. In the end a compromise was made, Obi Wan was the one to put it forward "Lets at least see what we might be supporting.... Anakin, Ahsoka and I could go to Maresh meet with this Heir of Mandalor, once there we can study whether or not such an Alliance would of benefit to the Republic".
The council passed the idea, the three would leave for the colony immediately to meet with the heir of Mandalor.
Chapter 2: We are Friends
The forest was empty, the darkness covering the night sky, moving almost silently through the forest branches were three figures, wearing hooded cloaks with their hoods raised, hiding their faces. As they moved between the trees watching the shadows for any dangers, two of the figures were similar in height whilst the third was slightly shorter.
Suddenly one paused, frozen in place. Suddenly from the shadows came a collection of men and women wearing Mandalorian armor wielding weapons ranging from long rifles, shorter blasters and some with pistols. All of them with jet packs on their backs, each with armor painted in different manners and styles.
"Identify yourselves Immediately" one shouted
The three raised their hands and removed their hoods, revealing their faces, Anakin Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano. "Its alright we are friends" Anakin announced
The warriors lowered their weapons in various ways, some returned them to their holsters, others held them in styles of relaxation and coolness, like leaning the weapon against their shoulders. The Leader stepped forward "Bout time, been waiting for 3 days for you.... come on.... we've got a camp not too far"
Raising his hand flat and straight he extended his arms towards a specific direction, which they all soon began too walk directly too. The three Jedi followed amongst the group, always keeping themselves ready for a fight, hands close to their lightsabers.
Slowly they came out of the forest and onto the open plains, in their sights was a collection of tents, speeders and crates. The resistance camp they all thought.
As they walked into the camp Anakin, Obi Wan and Ahsoka began to notice that the fighters weren't just Mandalorians, there were Twi'leks, Trandoshans, Wookiees, Kahleesh, Bothans, Sullustans and dozens of others. Not something that they had expected to see from a group called the Mandalorian Resistance. And all in the camp began to gather around watching the Jedi with both intrigue and caution, many had their hands on weapons, whilst others kept their distance.
They were brought to a large tent, which within held a holo map of the local area, around it were dozens of fighters, Including certain people that were clear leadership, including Felider, speaking to the different fighters and their specific Jobs. "We need scouts in these areas" "Reports have come in about patrols nearby" and dozens of other orders.
At least until he saw the three Jedi "Dismissed" he order, the fighters began to leave going about their individual duties. Felider waved his hand, inviting them in, the Jedi came in bowed their heads out of respect, "No need to bow to me.... I'm not the one you here to speak too"
Obi Wan and Anakin looked at each other in a puzzled manner, "Then where is your leader" Anakin asked. Felider waited for a second, then looked down upon the map again specifically the clock. Then an echo went out of a large explosion, followed by the cheering of all the fighters outside, within the other areas of the camp.
They ran out and saw the cause, a great amount of light far in the distance, and above that smoke funneling into the night time sky. Ahsoka looked about and saw the fighters almost on the verge of Celebration from the explosion, she guessed one thing "Guess the Resistance launched an attack".
Felider came out of the main tent and began to shout out "Alright.... Alright!! calm down!!...... we all know the drill.... with attack over we need to be ready to move out.... so start packing up..... when they get back we need to be ready to go"
The fighters calmed and then ran around gathering equipment and packing up other items, loading everything they could onto the large speeders and other vehicles. Soon a large humming sound came louder and louder, from the horizon as a collection of speeder bikes sped into the camp before coming to a sudden halt.
The Leading fighter, came to a halt just in front of the Jedi, "How was the raid?" Felider asked.
"We took out the Mine..... but we underestimated the Droid defenses.... lost three fighters" The leader paused, lowering his head after mention the loss of the fighters, "Six wounded as well...... need to move now... we had Droidekas on our tail"
Felider heard these words, and started shouting the same orders again, pushing for the fighters to get ready to go. "These the Jedi?" the Leader asked, Felider just nodded in response, "Get on a speeder Jedi..... We need to get out before the Droidekas find us.... we need to get back to base"
Once everything was on the speeders, and the Jedi visitors were aboard the bikes, the resistance made their escape, speeding across the open plains, faster than any droid.
Chapter 3: Head-Quarters
As dawn began to rise, with the sun slowly raising higher and higher into the sky, the resistance was still moving fast, those not driving started to drift off to sleep. Ahead of them mountains and hills began to come into view.
As they got closer and closer Obi Wan started to notice something, there was something hidden within one of the mountain valleys it was a collection of simple wooden and stone buildings. As they got closer the buildings finally began to make better shape, they were small houses, standing before a large mine from the looks of it, a large manufactured tunnel built into the mountain.
As the speeders came into the small village they slowed on their way into the tunnel, Obi-Wan was somewhat amazed, the tunnel was properly formed for defense, smaller tunnels were dug in the walls, leading to other location beneath the mountain. Yet they suddenly stopped moving, they were in large room filled with all kinds of vehicles, all of them fast speeder designs, some of the larger ones had larger weaponry attached to them, but none of them were actual military vehicles.
The Leader began ordering those around him "Alright, get the wounded into the hospital, weapons and ammunition stored away and don't forget to get something hot to eat and some sleep"
The fighters did as he ordered, helping those who were wounded, or by aiding in storing the equipment that they had on board the speeders. The Leader walked around towards the Jedi, Anakin was the first to speak "Now can we meet you leader?".
The Leader looked to him "I fight alongside my people" he stated slowly reaching up to remove the Mandalorian style mask he was wearing "That is why, the Separatists won't find me" They finally understood the person they came to meet, was standing before them, Lor'Rick, the so called Heir of Mandalor.
He offered his hand "Names Lor'Rick.... but I go by other Names.... Boss, Sir.... HEIR OF MANDALOR" The two masters merely bowed their heads out of respect, only Ahsoka actually shook his hand, after all they were about the same age, late teens.
"Nice to meet you... I'm Ahsoka" she said in a polite fashion
Anakin was next to speak, "I'm Anakin Skywalker, this is Obi Wan Kenobi"
Lor'Rick was now the one to bow his head, he may not like politics, but they were possible Allies. He waved them to follow, and they did so in a much more relaxed than before, "Come on" he said, "I'll introduce you to my Lieutenants".
They followed closely through the twists and turns of the underground base, but then they paused Commando Droids were coming in from the opposite Direction, yet they were painted., upon the face plate was the Mandalorian distinct T. Lor'Rick helped them to relax "Don't worry, a genius we have here has been able to hack the systems within the droids, making them fight for the resistance"
This made Anakin even more intrigued, a group that has Droids fighting for them.
As they walked Ahsoka noticed a very heavily built door, with commando droids guarding it "Whats in there?" she asked
Lor'rick looked to the door and mumbled a simple answer "That's a Secret Project".
They turned into a large room what resembled a miniature factory, within it though were droids of all kinds, standard battle droids, Super battle droids, Commando droids and droidekas. In the center was a large work table, a droideka was rolled up on it. In front of the table was a set of small steps leading up to the table.
"So where's this genius" Obi Wan asked
Lor'Rick turned around, leaned against the table and looked directly at them, "He's standing behind you". They quickly turned around and saw no one, at least until a waving hand began to come up, looking down they saw the hands owner, a Jawa, wearing the distinctive brown robes and hood, his face hidden with only his yellow glowing eyes. His unique Jawa squeels and sounds that make up their language, "Meet Ooteen.... one of the very few Jawas to not live on Tatooine"
Ooteen ran around the Jedi and made his way to the table, hopped up the steps next to the table and continued his work of figuring out how to improve the droids. "Ooteen worked in the Droid factories for a time... before they started treating him like a slave..... so he started to perform acts of sabotage, at least until we broke him and the workers out"
Three more people entered the room, a Trandoshan with dark black scales and a left arm significantly shorter than his right. A Green Twi'lek woman, and the Chagrian whom they had met before.
"Allow me to introduce everyone..... the Lizard with an arm partially missing is Kreez, his arm is still growing back after he lost it to commando droid, three weeks ago...." Lor'rick explained, Kreez nodded his head.
His voice was grouchy and crackerly, and he didn't speak the common language instead the ancient language of the Trandoshans, mostly through growls, clicks and grunts "(Translated) The Droid lost far more"
"Felider you've already met, former Bar keeper, and now expert in organization" Lor'Rick continued, "Finally we have our Twi'Lek Revolutionary Mira..... expert in Explosives, assassination and all other kinds of fear based attacks"
"Fear!" Obi Wan stated,
They all nodded their heads, at least until Lor'Rick explained "The way we do things here, is rather simple.... its not just about fighting droids using Guerilla warfare tactics.... we also use other methods.... like this" he threw a credit chit to Ahsoka, whom looked over it and found a engraved mark on it three serpents forming the shape of a Skull. "That there is the Mark of Death according to the old tales of Mandalor himself"
Mira was quick to take over "The legend says, that one of Mandalors Lieutenants betrayed him to the Sith.... so Mandalor sent that mark to him as a warning..... ignored on pain of death... to which he did.... at his own expense"
Felider was next to speak "We use this legend to our advantage... we send them to the Collaborators.... as a Warning and then fulfill that threat" the Jedi just stood there unsure, at least until Kreez used the finger across the neck movement.
"You tell them your going to assassinate them?" Anakin asked
They just nodded "We Announce it..... we let the people across the sector know.....people have come to us as far as Concord Dawn..... They rally to the Heir of Mandalor...... since Lor'rick revealed himself, people have been talking about him" Mira stated
"We have been using that to our advantage as well.." Felider continued "We want people talking about him.... he is the rallying cry.... the Message is simple"
Ahsoka stepped forward "Message?"
"That they know that Mandalor shall return, what will happen when he does and what is expected of them when he does" Felider ended the three Jedi stood in shock, they understood the process they were discussing, convincing the people to rise up when they see the Heir of Mandalor.
"But until then we have been using Economic Guerilla warfare" Lor'rick intervened
"What exactly is That?" Anakin asked "I have some idea about Economic warfare but Economic Guerilla warfare"
Mira chuckled after all it was she whom gave the system its name "Its rather simple, its all well and good, doing small raids against the Seps, their droids and military targets.." she paused to catch her breath "But when the Seps came they took over nearly every industry focused around the war effort against the Republic.... Mines.... factories etc."
Kreez took over the explanation "(Translated) so we destroy what they require to keep fighting.... to build droids, tanks and ship they need certain things.... metals.... circuits... power" he paused for a second with a painful look on his face, gripping his left shoulder. Inhaling powerfully he allowed himself to speak again "(Translated) we destroy such things, mines, factories, power stations.... if the Seps aren't getting anything from the sector, they will not want to waste money here and leave.... then the Collaborators will be on their own"
Lor'Rick began to move, waving his hand for them all to follow Lieutenants and Jedi alike, leaving Ooteen to continue his work in peace. He led them back through the maze of tunnels, until they passed a large open space, with a strong metallic floor and an large open almost hangar bay door leading out of the mountain, "This is why we need fighters and Bombers.... we have small transports that can travel through the sector with their hyper-drives linking our different Cells scattered across Separatist space" He paused continuing to lead them on wards "with a few bombers and fighters we can launch larger offensives.... attack the more well defended mines and factories"
They finally entered something that resembled a command center, with computer monitors and people working them all over the room, each off them talking amongst each other. But in the dead center of the room was a large circular Holo table, Lor'rick went around and stood opposite the Jedi, "With those ships we could help each other.." he pressed a button and a hologram was shown upon the table, a large collection of factory looking buildings "This is the largest factory complex in the sector.... its used by the Seps for multiple things.... the first section" he pressed a series of buttons highlighting in green a portion of the area "is primarily used for the manufacture of the various droid types, battle droids, destroyers etc.... the next part" one again he pressed another button highlighting another portion in blue.
"that sector is used for the construction of Separatist tanks such as Hailfire droids, spider droids both large and small...Octuptarras, AATs and everything else.... the largest sector of the facility" one last time he pressed a button highlighted the final section in red "Is used as a dry dock, where they construct vulture droids, hyena bombers, light and heavy cruisers etc"
He looked up to the Jedi "but there is something big, we don't know what but the Seps are using the facility to build something big, our spies say its a ship bigger than any cruiser they've ever seen....our attacks can slow down its construction.... but without bombers and fighters for support its suicide to launch an offensive on the facility"
Anakin finally spoke up "so we give you the ships you require and the fuel to keep them going, then you can attack this facility, and halt the construction of the ship...... won't they just move the ship elsewhere for construction"
Felider came around a corner and began to speak "They might..... but if they do... it would mean that your republic would have a better chance of finding it and destroying it" Skywalker finally understood after a second, the Separatist would move the secret project, but they won't be able to hide from Clone Intelligence, as they've done here.
Obi wan was now quick to put forward a major argument "You've only told us why an attack on this location would aid us... how would it help you?"
Lor'rick looked to his lieutenants they all nodded, in favor of telling the Jedi "The reason is simple, every single person working in that Facility are no better than slave labor, fed scraps, not permitted to leave.... over 2,000 people.... all of them were people who stood against the Separatists, even fought back against them, if we break them out.... then our numbers would have a major boost.... and just imagine how the Separatists moneygrubbers would react..... imagine how Gunray would react after hearing that the factory he payed for is nothing more than a pile of rubble"
They could hear the emotion in his voice all of them, Kreez was the one though to bring forth the final point "(Translated)It would bring us closer to setting foot in the capital.... it would show that the Return of Mandalor is coming"
Later on the three Jedi met in the relative privacy of the quarters provided by the resistance, a small room with a collection of bunk beds built into the rock of the mountain walls. "Well" asked Ahsoka "I'm sold.... i think this resistance is a good cause to support..."
Anakin nodded his head "I agree, and if they are building droids and ships here we need to stop it.... and we can't risk a fleet.... Lor'rick could open up a second front.... his resistance could take back this whole sector, if they are properly supported"
"The Cause is just Anakin...." stated Obi Wan "but the use of fear to instill resistance and inspire an uprising in which innocent people could be killed is not the Jedi way"
Ahsoka stepped up to the plate, "He's creating fear among the people?.... he is removing the fear the people have of the Separatists...... he is doing what we Jedi do.... stopping those who spread terror"
They talked into the night, arguing this way and that, on whether or not the Jedi order and the Republic would support the Mandalorian Resistance. In the end.
Obi wan was the first to state the decision aloud "Alright... so we are in agreement.... We'll support them"
Chapter 4: the Players and the secret
The following morning Obi wan and Anakin stayed within the relative privacy of the room provided by the resistance for their stay on Maresh. They activated a small disc holo communicator, as they did so they each pulled a small crate for them sit upon, when from the communicator came a holo gram of three specific Jedi, masters Mace Windu, Yoda and Plo Koon.
"We have managed to find some more information on the individuals you told us of" master plo stated.
The hologram became a collection of dossiers consisting of every lieutenant that they had met as well as Lor'rick himself. Master Windu was the next to speak through the hologram dossiers describing what it was they had found, "Mira Senna... has a long history of criminal acts across the galaxy" the hologram focused on Mira's file, showing a long list of criminal offenses under her name "According to our information she was a member of a radical group of twi'lek pirates who raided and attacked the Hutts as well as legal collectors of relics, both to free twi'lek slaves and claim artifacts from their home world.... for the pasts two years however she has no recorded crimes"
Next up came Kreez, "Kreez Byghal" master Plo continued the conversation, "Very little information on him.... mostly due to the Trandoshans refusing to give up information on their people..... one thing that does come up is that he was banished for taking a stand against the hunting of sentient beings"
"A very unusual Trandoshan" Anakin remarked
"Indeed... he believes that the hunting of Sentient beings is no better than murder... and as such is not a true hunt.... for arguing for such a belief he was banished from the Trandoshan home world and any and all worlds they control by his own family...... under pain of death" Master Plo finished
Obi Wan was quick to take notice of something "So when his family turned on him he sought something new... a place he can call home"
Anakin agreed with such a stance "Explains the many scars he has on him, in his mind he's fighting for the only place he can call home"
"Next is the one called Felider" Master Windu took over once again "What we do have is limited, Felider been arrested several times for involvement in dozens of bar fights in which he is believed to have severely beaten those involved"
"Then there is their Leader" Master Plo once again took the lead "From what we have been able to find.... the braces he has are the same that Mandalor himself used during his lifetime, from what we know they were forged with Kyber Crystals within them"
Anakin became very intrigued from such information "That would make the blades just as powerful as a light-saber"
"It took us a while but we were able to find some information.... and it does appear that Lor'rick truly is a direct descendant of Te Sol'yc Mand'alor himself.... other wise known as Mandalore the First" Master Windu Stated "Lor'rick is quite literally the last true born Mandalorian, the last of Mand'alors bloodline.... but according to all information and intelligence, he has lived most of his life as a farmer" This made Anakin and Obi wan begin to wonder one simple question "What would make him want to fight?"
Elsewhere Ahsoka was wandering the halls and tunnels of the underground base of operations, she was curious about many things, but also cautious about the fact that there were heavily armed Commando droids as well as Droidekas wandering around the base and the fact that it concerned no one except her.
She turned to her left and found the mysterious door guarded by a group of five commando droids, "I wonder he's hiding back there" she whispered.
"Wouldn't you like to know" a voice came, she turned in shock and fear shouting "WOAH"
She calmed seeing who it was Lor'rick himself "Don't do that...." she said punching him the shoulder, he just laughed at the scare he had given her. she took a deep breath before speaking again "You'll be happy to hear that we have come to an agreement... and we're going to support the idea of the Republic supporting you"
"I didn't ask for the support of the Republic...." he stated "I asked for the support of the Jedi.....After all its the Republics Faults that lead to this was"
"What do you mean?" she asked
He smiled simply and continued to explain "Well the Republic is a fixed system correct" she nodded "That means the system of taxation is equal for all planets, no difference... and well there is one fault.... how is fair that a poor agricultural world like ours has to pay the same as a planet that can pay more that really is..... how is it fair that the people here have to work twice as hard so they can pay the taxes and put food on the table whilst other more prosperous worlds can put their feet up"
Ahsoka grew concerned he was sounding more and more like a separatist "Now don't get me wrong..... I am not a supporter of the separatists.... but the republic is too focused on money, not the greater good"
Ahsoka was quick to step up "And that's what you want, the greater good?"
He smile again and began to point things out in the hallways and tunnels "Look around.... what do you see?"
She looked about and saw many things "I see Mandalorians, Quarren, Wookiee, Trandoshans, Twi'lek and.... I could go on"
"Well I see none of those.... I don't see Mandalorians, Quarren, Wookiees, Trandoshans or even Twi'lek..... no you know what i see?" Ahsoka shook her head, "I see people who are willing to put aside the past and stand together, not as Allies, but as One.... they are willing to stand up and say I am Free" Lor'rick proudly stated.
Ahsoka looked about her and realized he was right these people were standing together, for she could see a wookiee and Trandoshan helping each other carry a munitions crate down the hallway. These two races should hate each other for their shared history, yet here they were working together, helping even fighting together like they never had any anger towards each other.
Lor'rick flicked his head "Come on.... I want to show you something" he began to walk for the guarded door, Ahsoka began to follow, the Droids guarding it simply stood aside and allowed them to pass, the door shot open and closed behind them "Now you've seen the commando droids and droidekas we use" he said, too which Ahsoka nodded "Well we do have other kinds, standard battle droids and super battle droids... but we use them for something else"
they walked through a heavily guarded hallway, with commando droids, Mandalorian warriors on either side "We've been using them too build something.... something that would make a statement when the enemy see it"
She wondered what it was he was discussing, as they walked they finally came to the head of the hallway. A room of monumental size, larger than the Hangar bay she had seen the previous night, this one was so large it could hold a small ship, and she could see why.
The Hangar was a makeshift dry dock, within it was a ship under construction, a long streamlined ship with four large engines at the back the bulkiest section of the ship, the engines were held on a set of large wings which curved backwards before heading straight to form a straight rear section. Two on either side, it then moved forward towards a slightly curved tip at the very front with two smaller wings pointing diagonally backwards. It resembled an escort class cruiser, but seemed large enough to hold a small army and small enough to be very maneuverable, from the size of the middle. It had weaponry stretching along the top and bottom as well as a large main gun housed below and back from the nose at the front.
All over it were droids of all kinds, battle and super battle droids working upon it, attaching armor and finishing its construction. "Your using them to build an freighter?" she asked
Lor'rick shook his head "We're building a symbol... saying I'm the Heir of Mandalor is all well and good but having a ship to lead the assault that will reclaim our home.... that is a true statement" he explained "A statement that we aren't just insurgents, we are an army.... an army that won't stand for the oppression of our people"
Ahsoka began to understand, the ship wasn't just a weapon, it was a tool for them to rally the people. She could imagine it, she imagined the ship landing in a city, Lor'rick stepping off the ramp and the people rising at the sight of him.
"I am willing to stand up for everyone, I don't care where they are from.... what species they are... I only care what is on the inside" He continued pointing to her heart "But the Separatists may speak of freedom away from the Republic.... but they aren't willing to care how they do it.... Later I will be showing you and your friends what the Separatists have done here... you and your Masters, you can use it as a little propaganda gift.....But the ship well We've begun calling her the Mandalor" he began to chuckle as if the name was similar to a joke.
Chapter 6: Scorched Earth
Later that day the four of them were speeding across the plains, in a single speeder, a four seat holder. Obi wan and Anakin sat in the back whilst Lor'rick drove with Ahsoka in the passenger seat to his left.
They sped across the empty grassy plains, the Jedi trio looked over the plains and admired the beauty of the land to which the resistance was fighting for, and they could understand "I see why you fight for this world so ferociously.... the land is beautiful" Anakin shouted over the sound of the speeder.
"Its not just its beauty we fight for" Lor'rick stated, "Some are fighting for vengeance, for those they lost.... look up ahead"
they did so and what they saw shocked them all, the land had gone from green and yellow of the grass plains to nothing but black scorched ash. Beyond that was a small town, or what was left of it.
The speeder came to a slow and steady stop in the dead center of the town, they all hopped out they boots sinking slightly into the ash covered soil.
The entire town was in ruins, every building was burnt to the ground, yet the scorch marks were old this act had happened months before they had arrived. Lor'rick guided them around "When Tenner Rel invited the Separatists, he put forth a strategy for a quick victory, the droids and his militia would.... would" they call all tell that he didn't like discussing it, he had tears forming in his eyes and his voice was becoming more and more stuttered.
Yet he continued "They would burn down a town or two as a message.... to the Capital.... Surrender or Burn..... they killed everyone in this town... none survived"
Ahsoka shocked at such a thing almost whispered her words " All this just.... to send a message"
Lor'rick turned to look at her, waving his hand to follow, they began to walk through the empty central street. Until they turned a corner and found something even worse than a scorched town, what they saw was a collection of hundreds of Skeletons, covering every open space of the towns streets and alleys. "We saved one town, me and my friends when the Seps invaded.... but we didn't know about this until days later"
They all stood still, just staring at the endless skeletons ranging into all sizes men, women and children all of them slaughtered to send a message. "Many of the fighters are in it for vengeance, they want Tenner Rel to pay for what he did here..... that's one of our rallying cries.... Remember the Blood they shed" Ahsoka could hear a certain pain in his voice, and she could feel something through the force, he was experiencing a recurrence of pain and loss, he knew someone here.
Turning away from the skeletons he walked back to the speeder Obi wan was curious though "I take it you knew people here?" he asked
Lor'rick just paused, stopped in his tracks "The people here were farmers, but I know it as the place where I was Born" his voice was filled with sadness, they knew it and they could tell that even though he had lost his home, he was not vengeful for this destruction here, yet Ahsoka knew it was something more she could sense it. "You might think of us as Terrorists in some retrospects master Jedi, but we are doing what we have too...."
They heard these words and in aspect his was right, they done a lot with the limited resources they had, but now like he said they can do oh so much more. They all returned to the speeder and sped across the plains returning to the base.
Lor'rick was slowly starting to see the Jedi trio as friends not just allies, especially Ahsoka, who seemed more understanding of the three. "So why Heir of Mandalor.... why not just Mandalore?"Ahsoka asked
"The same reason I didn't tell people who I was, I call myself Mandalore then just like everyone else who claimed the title after Te Sol'yc Mand'alor died.... " Lor'rick explained " Just a Man....But if I was to make myself appear something other than a man.... then I would be seen not as a Hero or a Villain by either Republic or the Separatists.... no I would become a Legend..... a Legend that the Resistance feels compelled to rally around"
Chapter 7: We need to Run
After a few days of understanding the Resistance, Lor'rick and Ahsoka has slowly become good friends, they both understood each other, both of them were doing what was necessary to protect people, she being a Jedi and him being a warrior.
Yet soon things would change, for soon the Jedi would have to leave but at the least they had come to achieve their goal, discovering whether or nor the Mandalor Resistance was worth supporting. Within days a shuttle arrived to take them home, Lor'rick saw them off and even thanked them for giving the support they require to win the fight.
As their shuttle pulled away, everyone's' eyes soon turned to other objects, at first they thought it was the help that was promised, Republic bombers and fighters. But Lor'rick suddenly noticed their movements, he froze in fear of what he could see.
An immense explosion rocked the underground hangar bay, as the Shuttle carrying his Jedi allies erupted into flames. The fighters around him fled or fell back from the flames, but not Lor'rick, he charged into the flames of the wrecked shuttle, he needed to find his allies.
sifting through the rubble that was the inside, he found Obi wan Kenobi, covered under metal scraps. He heaved and pulled trying to get the metal off, yet with every inch of his strength he couldn't move it an inch.
Then from the smoke came Anakin Skywalker, who ran to assist him, using his force powers to heave the metal off his former master. "Get your friend out, I'll find Ahsoka" Lor'rick shouted, Anakin just nodded grabbing Obi Wans left arm and pulling him over his shoulder, slowly carrying him out of the wreck.
"Ahsoka!"Lor'rick shouted but to no reply, he shouted again "Ahsoka!... where are you?!!!", he pulled himself up the open space leading to the pilot seat, it was empty, but turning to look at the co pilots seat he could see her. Dropping down faster than ever before he moved to the co pilot section, using every inch of muscle to get himself up to help her. As he finally reached her, he could see what was happening outside, it was an attack, the entire hangar was under fire, droids were marching into it, with the outnumbered resistance trying desperately to hold them.
He grabbed Ahsoka, whom remained unconscious, and carried her out. Running down the ruined ramp of the shuttle door and into the hail of laser fire. From behind him came a blast of force, throwing him and Ahsoka forward, landing on his stomach he found himself dazed, everything sounded distant, even people close by sounded further off.
A droid came up to him and pointed its weapon, yet before it could pull the trigger a laser blast struck its head. Lor'rick looked to his left and saw his friends, Kreez firing his rifle, Felider with his shotgun and Mira with her dual pistols all of them firing from behind crates at the back of the hangar alongside other resistance fighters. Mira shouted over to him waving her left hand still gripping the pistol, but she sounded ever so far away "MMMMOOOOOVVVVEEEEE!".
He pushed himself off the metal floor, grabbing Ahsoka again and once again ran, ran faster than ever before trying to get to the relative safety of the crates the Resistance was using for cover. After doing so, he tried to regain his senses, shaking his head back and forth, hitting his ears with an open hand.
"What do we do Lor'rick?" a voice shouted, Felider came running, slapped Lor'rick in the face and made things oh so much clearer "I said... what do we do now?"
Lor'rick now hearing clearly, his mind focused again, nodded "Alright listen up" he shouted, he grabbed his ancestors mask and weapons, and spoke through the communicator within it "This Lor'rick.... to all fighters... we can't hold the Hangar, retreat now, evacuate the base..... I repeat Evac now.... we're abandoning the base"
Those around him couldn't believe it, he was ordering them to run, yet they all knew what he was doing was right, they were no where near ready to engage the Separatists in open battle. The fighters began the process of Fire and retreat, each squad providing covering fire for those retreating before retreating themselves. "Alpha, Bravo, Calico, Delta units, get to the armory save what you can.... get them on speeders then run"
They heard the order and ran, making their way to the armory and speeder garage. "Echo, Quarren, Zulu units head to the Mandalor.... we're using it for our escape get her ready to fly.... I need volunteer units to hold the line long enough for us all to escape" Lor'rick paused waiting for the units willing to do so call in, he expected one or two but he was surprised.
"This is Khen.... we'll hold the Hangar with Tango" A voice came
"This is Indack, we've got wookiee boys with us.... we'll hold the Command center for as long as we can"
"Unick here, we've opened the doors to the Mandalor hangar and the ships ready to go... we'll hold the clankers off"
"Oscar here.... we've got Sep tanks and droid battalions marching on the main doors.... we can hold but not for long......" Lor'rick refused to let them die for nothing.
"Negative link up with Alpha and Bravo in the Garage" he shouted through the communicator
"We can't......the tanks and spiders... have us pinned..... we can't get to the.." the final word came, for afterwards was only the sounds of battle, explosions and screams. Lor'rick just fell back, he was listening to the people who rallied to him being slaughtered.
"Lor'rick!" a voice shouted, he turned to see Ahsoka finally awake from her shuttle crash, "We need to run" She, Anakin and obi wan had joined the fight, covering the retreating resistance with their lightsabers blocking incoming fire.
Lor'rick stood up and began to wave his hand firmly "Fall back!" he shouted "Everybody.... fall back to the Mandalor..... Ahsoka, Skywalker, Kenobi, you too.... come on" the three Jedi heeded these words and followed the retreating fighters, alongside Lor'rick, Felider, Kreez and Mira.
They all fled through the rumbling rock hallways, Kreez paused to grab a running Jawa, Ooteen, despite the Jawa shouting and screaming Kreez held him in the hook of his left armpit, his arm stretched around Ooteens waste.
They kept on running hearing the continued fighting across the base they had called home for some time. Turning to the mega hangar holding the Mandalor cruiser, they found destroyed commando droids and dead resistance fighters, they continued to run, for the ship was their only means out of the base now.
As they came to the Hangar, they found a battle field. The surviving members of the units allocated to defending the ship were still fighting, but losing bodies of different species dotted across the Hangar alongside resistance and separatist droids. Above them the finished cruiser ready for launch.
"RUN.... GO.... get to the ship"Felider shouted.
And they all did, each of them, every fighter, leader and Jedi running for the ramp leading into the ship. But as they did Felider lead the fighters in providing cover, as the ship rose up, the ramp slowly got further and further away from providing a means of getting in.
"Wait" Lor'rick shouted over the communicator to the pilots.
"Just go......get out of here.... we'll buy you some time" He shouted up them, as he and the other remaining fighters kept firing their weapons into the waves of oncoming droids.
Lor'rick didn't care he wasn't going to leave a friend behind "Get us back down their now!" he ordered the pilot.
Up in the cockpit however both pilots could see that they couldn't "I don't care what you orders are sir.... we've got tanks coming in through the doors"
Lor'rick looked to the massive opening and saw they were right, tanks of different sizes slowly coming through, if they didn't leave soon then they would pulverized by their main guns. "Give us two seconds to grab Felider and the others"
The co pilot soon took over shouting through the communicator "We stay... we're all dead"
The ships ramp quickly began to retract and close up, and all they could do was watch as the hatch closed and their brothers in arms and close friend Felider was left to fight alongside various fighters of the resistance.
The next thing they could feel that was not an emotion was the sudden jolt as the ship shot forwards out of the hangar and across the plains. Lor'rick looked about him, and what he saw made him feel even worse, before today the units defending this ship during the assault numbered well over 30 fighters each now though. The wounded crying, their blood pouring onto the metal floor of the cargo bay, and the dead covered by simple blankets, these units now only numbered 4 to 6 fighters each if they were lucky, combined they numbered no more than around 18 not including Mira, Kreez the Jedi trio and himself, not enough to properly man the Mandalor.
Under him the resistance had risen and now it had fallen, before they had a base of operations, were on the brink of a great strategic strike against the Separatists. Yet now the resistance was a scattered, loosely connected collection of different Cells across separatist space.
He had hit rock bottom, wondering how the droids could have done such an effective offensive, when from the survivors came a wounded mandalorian "Sir.... I don't know if its relevant but.... I thought you should know that..... I think I know who lead the assault on the base"
Lor'ricks interest and that of the Jedi peaked "Tell me" he asked motioning the fighter to sit down, upon a small crate, allowing him to rest and catch his breath.
"Well sir.... before the assault, one of our spies reported a visitor on the planet, here to see the ship being built at the mega facility..... well I think i saw him in the assault" the fighter explained
"Who?" Obi wan questioned
"Well sir, he was cyborg, he seemed to be wearing a Kahleesh war mask and he had this weird, grouchy cough"
Skywalker connected the three descriptions "Grievous!" he stated
Ahsoka stepped in "well that explains a lot.... If their building some kind of weapon here.... Grievous would be interested"
Obi wan was next to speak, "And it would explain the attack on the resistance, Grievous wants the weapon as quickly as possible, and the your resistance is delaying its construction"
Mira came up to Lor'rick concerned about something "Communications are up and running.... but" she paused
"But?" Lor'rick asked
"Morale is at a down low..... reports have come from the other cells.... all of them are saying the people are losing hope" she finished her statement. Lor'rick was frozen, he wasn't sure what to do, everything the resistance had been building up too was a major offensive on the largest Separatist droid factory, then launch an uprising. Now they had barely anything, a single ship with a skeleton crew, a loose collection of scattered resistance cells and alliance with the Jedi that is on the brink of breaking.
"We reforge the plan, we still attack the Sep mega-factory..... but we're going to switch things around...." he stated "Instead of launching an attack then instigating an uprising, we're going to switch the two"
They all looked to him with a questioning look, "Now the only way I think that they found the Base was via a spy.... so we find the spy and "Accidentally" let them see our plan"
Kreez finally clicked onto the idea "(Translated) We let them think our plan is one thing, then do the exact opposite"
Mira stepped in "I'll print some false documents.... plans for the factory and infiltration orders"
"While your at it..... get the comm ready I'm going to give a speech" Lor'rick proudly stated
Chapter 8: A Promise
Across the sector people were somewhat relaxed, concerned, drowning their sorrows. In cantinas across Maresh, System and Sector, people hoping for liberation were just sitting in silence, barely any music was being played.
The markets and streets across Maresh people went about their daily business, buying and selling from stalls and shops. When a man wearing Mandalorian armor come running through as fast as his legs could carry him, as he runs he throws down a bag of some kind. From the bag came a small holo disk, which rolled around into the crowd, the Mandalorian just kept running ignoring the disk his bag had lost.
Following close behind were other Mandalorian armor wearers, however unlike the previous runner whose armor was black mixed with blue lines, these were red with black linings. They paused however after noticing the holo disk, instead of continuing their chase, they began to gather around, at least until they followed protocol, one man goes forward while the others step back in case of explosives.
When suddenly an immense hologram springs out from the disk, taller than a giant the Hologram was Lor'rick wearing the Mask and Armor of Mandalor. In cantinas across the sector people saw the same, the leader of the resistance on the large screens that would previously show the holonet.
"People of the Galaxy.... this is Lor'rick..... but many would know me better as the Heir of Mandalor..... at this moment I can only hope you can hear me.......You may have heard that the Resistance has been defeated......our attacker is attempting to take away our freewill..... our individuality..... our unity....." he said as people began to gather around the hologram in the streets and the Holonet in the Cantinas. "When facing an occupation such as this..... its easy to retreat into ourselves....Believe me I know.....I lost my baby sister when Tenner Rell took over with the droids...."
Those around Lor'rick heard say these words as they recorded and broadcasted him. They knew there was something else that was pushing him in the fight, when he said that people were for looking for revenge, he was one of them.
"She was barely a year old.... when Tenner Rells men and Droids burned down the village and Orphanage she was being raised in......When I found out... all I could think of was how Alone I was...... but I've since learned that there is so much love in our Galaxy....." People everywhere could feel their eyes slowly fill with tears even those who were watching Lor'rick send this message "It was those around me..... they were ones who helped me find what it was I was fighting for..... They helped me..... they helped me become more powerful than I ever thought possible....The power they gave me was Love.... and Hope"
The Jedi trio heard these words, as the most important, each of them hearing something different Obi Wan heard the words of a person trying to remove the fear the people had. Anakin heard a man who was trying to speak the truth in a galaxy of lies, Yet it was Ahsoka that heard the most emotional part, she was hearing how people made Lor'rick a better man, how the love he had for those around him made him strong, how love helped him find his cause. She began to remember, specific memories of the two of them, them meeting each other for the first time, him scaring her, her punching him in response, she smiled at remembering them, she even felt a tear trickle down her cheek.
"Love they gave me... brought me back to the cause that is truly worth living for...... And that kind of Love can never be taken away...... no matter how hard they try"
For Kreez, it was the memory of the hunts they had together, meeting in the cantina for drinks and laughs. Mira remembered them celebrating certain days, laughing, making jokes etc. Each of them knew he was telling the truth, they did care deeply for him, like a brother. Hell they both knew one thing, they loved him like a brother.
"And I know that in each and everyone of you there is that same light....... A fire... that cannot.... will not be suppressed.... that will not give up...... I need your help now...... I need you all to believe in something..... not me...... not the legends and stories surrounding me...... but Hope......Hope!....That each of you can be free..... Hope.... that should they try to take your freedom, that you will rise up and find your freedom again.....Hope, that those who may have shunned you in the past, Will stand with you in battle......"
He paused for a second taking a deep strong breath. But as he did the people rallied, in the Cantinas people whom had once shunned each other were now standing alongside each other, in the streets the people were rallying as well, species that once hated each other were now gathering around the hologram as if they were neighbors.
"Hope, that you will find and see those that you love again..... and perhaps even those you have lost...." Lor'rick could now feel his mind drawing memories from his past, he remembered seeing his mother one last time, after his baby sister had been born. Most notably her last words to him "I love you.... Lor'rick"
Breathing again Lor'rick gave the grand finale "So I am begging you..... Hope and Love again.....because its the only way... we can survive..... the only way we can be free again..... so please stand with us.... don't rise because of me.... but because.... if we don't then we will lose not just our freedom but our souls...... this Mandor Lor'rick" This was the first time any of them had heard him speak his full name ever.....not even Kreez and Mira had heard him say it. The recording ended and Lor'rick breathed far easier, "Think anyone heard?" he asked those around him.
Ahsoka was the only one to step forward "They heard!" she replied proudly.
And she was right, people all over had heard, never mind just on Maresh, but across the sector. People were rallying to the resistance and not just that but also there were people beginning to take a stand against Rells militia and the droids marching through their streets. People weren't just standing up, they were rising.
The Mandalorian Resistance had become the Mandalorian Uprising.
Comments
Post a Comment