37AN: Gloria in excelsis Deo! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! An update that took less than two years? Real milestone for this one! I wanted to work on this more to get it out in under a year, but some plans don't pan out. Also unless someone could help me out with writing this, for what I want to write about in this fanfic I'm going to have to read Jude Watson's books.
Mandalore
"Bon voyage!" The Terran kissed his fingertips and gave a two finger salute as he slipped around the corner of his ship's hatchway which automatically closed behind him.
Jango was slightly intrigued by the Terran's choice of words. It sounded like some dialect, or an evolution, of the ancient High Galactic language. Both galaxies seemed to use the High Galactic alphabet anyway, so it wasn't a stretch to assume the languages might be related. They both spoke Basic also, which was more odd than anything else, considering the literally astronomical distances between the two galaxies.
The Terran's freighter lifted off, kicking up dust in its jetwash as the engines pulsed vibrantly. Lifting off, it receded into the night sky before disappearing entirely.
Jango felt like he'd gotten a good deal on the weapons, enough to arm a small battalion. Something didn't sit right with him, however, and it wasn't anything to do with the Terran. Death Watch had eyes everywhere. Even in his own camp, he suspected. Jango spun around and strode towards the command tent. From the corner of his eye he saw Boba ape his motion.
He flipped the entrance to the tent open. Two of his men were on break while another two were at their stations monitoring radio chatter, keeping an eye on sensors, and other tasks essential to maintaining security.
Jango glanced down at the men playing a game of random sabacc, officiated by one of the BL-series droids. He raised his eyebrow at their choice of drink.
"'Mandalorean' Narcolethe?" Jango grabbed the bottle and peeled back the frayed end of a sticker. "You show little respect for yourselves drinking this Death Watch bootleg."
"Spoils of war, Mand'alor. Mandallian Narcolethe tastes better knowing the enemy sweat for it," the one closest to him said, glancing at him.
"Change of rules! Time has elapsed!" the droid said.
"Murglak'ad!" the other exclaimed, cursing either his cards or the table as a son of a Murglak. His opponent turned from Jango to his own cards and frowned.
"Next round is by... Empress Teta Preferred system."
Jango ignored their groans of protest and walked to the sensor station, joined by Boba. "Anything out of the ordinary?"
"Not exactly, Mand'alor. I've been tracking the exit of the Terran vessel, but there's been more activity around the system lately."
"That aruetii, Satine, has her patrols scrambling." Jango pointed a gloved finger at the display. "Twice as many as there were yesterday."
The operator nodded. "Must be because of the kind actions of our benefactor."
"Possibly. Make sure they don't move to intercept our new Terran friend, and keep a close eye on Concordia. I know the hut'uun is hiding somewhere out there. He'll seek vengeance after what we did to him yesterday."
"As you wish, wait. There, coming out of the atmosphere!" The man indicated the new contacts emerging from Concordia's orbit. It was a full squadron of Fang-class fighters deliberately moving on an intercept course.
Jango wasted no time. "Scramble fighters!" He turned to Boba. "Get the Slave One started!"
000
A blaring alarm and incessant warnings interrupted the Terran's reverie. He'd been thinking what he was going to do with his newfound wealth. Perhaps another day.
"What the hell's going on?" His tone heavily suggested annoyance.
"A dozen new contacts, transmitting Death Watch IFFs." The dumb AI reported.
"From where?" He briefly struggled to locate the sensor monitor for a second.
"Concordia, one of the moons of Mandalore, the planet we just exited."
He finally found the display. The fighters, clearly gunning for him, looked sleek and elegant. More importantly, they looked deadly.
"I don't think our Sawtooth is gonna let us last long against those things. How many missiles do we have left?"
"One pod of four M390 Streak-II missiles. If you had reloaded the other pod-"
"Yeah, not happening now." The Terran grimaced. "Get us a slipspace jump all the way to Coruscant."
"Right away." The dumb AI seemed to pause. "New contacts, coming from Mandalore."
The Terran raised an intrigued eyebrow, looking more intently at his sensor array. It was a motley assortment of ships, from a unique looking one which the Terran thought was reminiscent of a skinny horseshoe crab with a thicker tail, to sleek fighters the same model as the ones broadcasting Death Watch IFFs.
What mattered more to him than how flashy their vehicles were, was the fact that they were transmitting True Mandalorian IFFs. "Jango's men."
"Correct. Also, intercepted transmissions indicate that local law enforcement known as the Mandalorian Patrol are converging on this location."
The Terran grinned. "Looks like a furball to me."
000
Jango watched silently as four missiles shot away from the Terran vessel. With incredible speed they tracked towards jinking Death Watch fighters, outperforming them with incredible maneuverability.
Two received direct hits and were obliterated. One was disabled by a proximity detonation. Having been clipped in its port wing, it started to careen away from its squadron as the cockpit stabilization failed. The cockpit began gyrating around, flipping the craft uncontrollably with the motion. The last target managed to evade, however. Jango would keep an eye on that one.
"We have to get some of those." Boba admired. Jango smirked at that, but the expression was obscured by his helmet.
"I appreciate your hospitality, unfortunately it seems I've overstayed my welcome in this system. No hard feelings." The Terran's voice came over the blue-black portal opened up to swallow pinpricks of starlight.
"No hard feelings." Jango said as the Terran vessel entered the portal which subsequently collapsed.
He made a mental addition to his own personal code.
Leave a Terran alone.
"Jango, we've got Satine's men vectoring towards us. Looks like they're just observing for now, though."
"Let the hut'uune watch the true Mando'ade fight, Shysa."
"Affirmative."
"All ships, shields to double front. Let's take them out in one fell swoop." Jango ordered. In a head-to-head matchup, the motley assortment of bulkier ships fielded by Jango would overmatch the comparatively dainty Fang fighters. It might also break the resolve a little, not enough to make them run even if they were outnumbered two to one, but might make them hesitate at just the right moment.
For the time being, they were limited to lasers only. Jango had difficulty sourcing proton torpedoes and concussion missiles. It was something to do with new wartime production measures enacted by both the Separatists and Republic driving up the black market price from reduced supply.
"Coming into range now, Dad!" Boba kept a keen eye on his monitors.
Jango's Slave One, Fang fighters, Pursuer-class enforcement ships, and Shysa's Free Mandalore came into firing range. The remaining nine Death Watch ships broke to the port and starboard, beckoning a chase.
Jango depressed the firing studs for his laser cannons. Rapid bursts splashed across one of the enemy Fang fighters before it blew into a ball of boiling metal.
"That's one!" Boba yelled jubilantly, keeping his attention on the monitor. "Evening out your shields now."
Jango whipped the Firespray-31 around, bringing him onto the tail of two more. A flight of Jango's own Fang fighters came alongside him as well. One of the enemy craft broke to port and the other broke the opposite way.
"I've got the one to starboard." Jango said confidently, tracking his target. He easily got right behind the aft of the wildly maneuvering craft and destroyed it in a hail of laser bolts. "Another down, coming back around."
"Watch it, Mand'alor! I've got one on me, bringing him your way! Ah!" The transmission cut into static.
Before Boba or Jango could get a read on the enemy, the Slave I suddenly shook. A Death Watch Fang fighter shot past the cockpit. Boba's head jerked back in surprise.
"I'm on this one." Jango transmitted.
"It's the last one left." Boba said.
"Must be the one that dodged the Terran's missile." Jango speculated. "He's good, but not good enough for me."
Jango jerked the craft to follow, only to find the enemy had already turned around and was headed back for him. He jerked to the left and pulled it towards himself as laser blasts buffeted the frontal shields. The Slave I turned around to face where the enemy would be momentarily.
As he expected, the Fang fighter shot past him. Jango fine-tuned his orientation and carefully aimed for the engines of the fighter. Despite the enemy's evasive actions, his targeting computer got a lock.
A furious burst of red lasers pierced the Fang fighter's shields. The engines pulsed, then sputtered out. It was effectively dead in the water without its propulsions.
"You aren't going to finish him off?" Boba questioned.
"No." Jango said. "Now we have a prisoner."