CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
--30 ABY, Ordo--
The quiet creak of the old man's chair was the only sound that passed between the two men as they stared silently into the moonlit night. Kadar stood a good distance away from the elder Ordo, still tense with apprehension as he awaited his response to the news.
After a pressing hour, the old man finally spoke. "I may not like you, Kadar -- and I don't -- and I may not have approved of your marriage to my daughter -- and I still don't -- but I don't for one second blame you for her death or my grandson's."
"You should," Kadar muttered. "You of all people definitely should. It was my fault Kandos was kidnapped in the first place. I should have trained him better."
"He was a boy, Kadar. There's only so much someone of his age can fend off against. If you raised him to be half the man an Ordo ought to be, then I'm sure he put a heck of a fight."
Kadar's shoulder visibly moved as he sighed but he otherwise remained silent. The older man then turned his cold emerald gaze to the ex-Mandalorian, a gaze which Kadar could not bring himself to meet.
"What I do hold against you though is how you are taking this. You lose your wife and son and what do you do? You walk away from it all -- including your daughter."
Kadar said nothing.
"You turn your back to her and let her fend for herself. All because you draw yourself as some tragic hero who the galaxy centers around. You think she cares that you're a cyborg? You think she cares that you're a 'monster?'"
Without a word, Kadar stepped off the patio and started to walk into the night.
"Your brought this upon yourself, Vizsla!" the old man called after him. "You're nothing but a coward! You do not deserve the name of Mandalorian, let alone the beskar'gam you wear! And you definitely did not deserve her!"
Kadar spun on his heel to face the elder Ordo, meeting his intense gaze. "You're right," he said coldly. "What I deserve is death." He then drew a blaster pistol and tossed it to Ordo, who caught it with precise accuracy. He then spread his arms wide and lifted up his head, exposing his neck to the elder.
"Go ahead, Argus. Give me what I deserve and take what I don't from my rotting corpse. Do it."
The old man stared at Kadar for what seemed like forever. Then, silently, he raised the blaster....
...And smiled.
"Well done." The old man chuckled. "I told you he was the one."
Behind him, a number of bounty hunters and mercenaries emerged from the Ordo residence, all looking at Kadar with expressions of spite and weariness. One of them, a pointy-eared Sakiyan, came to the forefront, a phony white grin flashing against his obsidian face.
"Salutations, dear old Kadar," the grinning humanoid said. "The name's Salvan Tai. I have an offer for you, and given that we're all armed and you're not, I don't think you're in any position to refuse."
--Now, Takodana--
"...His offer, as it happened, was from Black Sun. Apparently Prince Xalren was still convinced I would be his puppet and sent Salvan Tai to recruit me, using your grandfather as bait. Salvan claimed to know where you were and threatened to do you harm should I refuse. While I wasn't sure if he was bluffing or not, I nonetheless accepted his offer, because I saw it as an opportunity to get close to Xalren and avenge your mother and brother.
"Had he not approached me... had I never gotten into bounty hunting... I'm honestly not sure what I would have done. I'm not even sure I would still be here. But know that when I agreed to Salvan's offer -- from the moment I said 'yes', everything I did from that point onward was for you. To ensure that what happened to them never befell you."
His tale finished, Kadar leaned back in his seat and sighed, waiting patiently for his daughter to respond. Vessin's brown eyes were staring at the table, tracing its intricate markings with her fingers. When she finally did speak, she did not take her eyes off the table.
"I guess that's as good an excuse as any."
"Ves," Orde murmured, sitting to her right.
"What do you expect me to say?" she snapped. "You think one little story is going to cheer me up about all this?"
"Vessin," Tessa admonished. "Please understand that your father--"
"She's right."
All eyes were on Kadar, who stood up from his seat. Goran tensed, expecting him to leave again, but the white Mandalorian remained where he stood, placing his hands on the table.
"I need to prove myself. Not just to you, Vessin, but to everyone in this castle. For too long have I ran away from my true responsibility: To restore honor to the name Vizsla. I need to become the father and Mandalorian I was sworn to be. To truly earn an honorable reputation to my name.
"We are going to take back Mandalore. We are going to bring down the pretender Atinar. We are going to restore the Mandalorians to their former glory. And we shall do so, or die trying."
Danjus and Medrit let out a cheer. Orde and Tessa smiled approvingly. Vessin and Mirta stared with what almost resembled respect. Goran slapped him on the shoulder.
"About blasted time. Now let's get this ball rolling."
--Hyperspace--
It wasn't until they had made the jump to lightspeed did Wallen allow himself to breathe. They had finally made it off Coruscant and were headed for D'Qar, where they would rejoin Solo and the rest of Wraith Squadron. For once, things were finally going as planned.
As he settled in the copilot seat next to Shadow, he noticed that the ex-Glorian had already changed back to his natural cloaked form rather than staying as the blond female Alliance guard.
"Hey, why the change?" Wallen quipped. "Blonde hair suited you."
"Shut up," Shadow snarled.
"Whoa, relax, pal. No need to be uptight. We've made it, haven't we?"
"Not until this hunk of metal lands at the Resistance base on D'Qar. Between now and then, anything can happen."
Wallen grunted. "I suppose. Although I don't see why the Alliance would try to stop us now when we're--"
"I'm not talking about the Alliance."
The detective raised an eyebrow before quickly catching on. "Ah. You're referring to Atha."
"I just don't understand what's been up with him," Shadow said, shaking his head. "Ever since Toah started organizing the Alliance, after Taral made his debut, he's been acting strange. I'm not sure if there's a connection there, but it's definitely--"
The ex-Glorian was cut off by a scream coming from the back of the ship. Without a second thought, Wallen vaulted from his chair and rushed to the main hold. As the door slid open, the first thing Wallen saw was Atha Prime's crimson-clad figure filling the frame. As the detective opened his mouth to say something, a scarlet hand clamped around his neck and lifted him off his feet.
"Do not struggle," the red giant said in a raspy voice that definitely did not sound like the Atha he knew. "Rest."
Before Wallen had the chance to resist, he felt something prick his neck. Once Atha released him, he suddenly felt very somnolent and he collapsed onto the deck, joining the catatonic bodies of Xemer, Drikall, and Wran.
The last think Wallen saw as the darkness took him was Atha lumbering into the cockpit and knocking Shadow out cold. Then, everything went black.
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