Children of Mandalore: Prelude to Terror

epilogue:

Tyran stepped out of the cockpit after dozing off. He was starting to feel the effects of the last few days of Yuuzhan Vong hospitality. He stepped into the main chamber of his ship and nearly tripped over a set of beskar'gam stashed near the the curved sofa that dominated the rear section. He looked around the chamber and saw that everyone who wasn't in the medical bay was either crammed together on the couch or sprawled out on the floor. Sound asleep.

Pieces of armor were scattered everywhere and he had to carefully pick his way across the floor to avoid breaking his neck. Ryia and Rev were sitting shoulder to shoulder on the couch with their heads resting against each other as they slept. Koryn was curled in a ball in the corner, his massive tail thumping against the deck as he snarled and hissed, Tyran figured the Barabel was probably hunting something in a dream. Elai was sprawled out on the opposite side of the couch of Ryia and Rev and snoring loudly with his sniper rifle within reach. Baydo and Kas were lying on the floor with their heads propped up on their armor.

They all deserved the rest. There was still six hours before they would revert back to realspace near Gyndine. He sighed heavily and slowly picked his way across the floor that was strewn with stray armor and dozing teammates. It took a few moments but he made it to the access hatch that would take him to the medical bay. He found Raven standing over the lifeless corpse of Dawk. She was stroking the young medics hair and tears were freely flowing down her cheeks.

“She didn't deserve this Tyran.” Raven said without turning around. “Rixa didn't deserve to be tortured, Dyir didn't have to lose an eye and Kial didn't have to lose an arm. I don't deserve the sacrifices you and your friends made for me. I gave the Yuuzhan Vong the information they wanted and now Falas Draisa is going to take the lives of thousands of more pilots and soldiers than he would have if I'd just kept my mouth shut.”

“The Alliance has taken the probability of you succumbing to the Yuuzhan Vong into account, they'll be prepared for a stiff defense.” Tyran said taking off his armor pieces and setting them on a nearby table.

“The Yuuzhan Vong will mount more than just a stiff defense.” Raven said thickly as she stared down at Dawk. “More people are going to die because of me.”

“You can't think like that.” Tyran tried to sound calm and understanding when he actually wanted to walk up to the Jedi and shake her. “If you do think like that, then the Yuuzhan Vong have already one and the sacrifices these people have made will have been for nothing, especially Dawk”

“That was her name?” Raven asked.

“Yeah, I never learned her last name.” Tyran said moving to stand next to Raven. He'd removed his fight suit so that he was now just wearing an undershirt and a pair of black fatigue pants.

“How do I make this right?” Raven asked quietly.

“You fight.” Tyran said after thinking about the answer. “You help defeat the Yuuzhan Vong.”

“I'm not a warrior, I thought I was but I'm not.”

Tyran put a hand on her shoulder and spun her around. “You killed Kurru Ivat, not any of us and he was the second in command of the forces on that moon. Give yourself some credit. A little bit of training and you'll be besk'atin'la.”

“What's that mean?”

“Tough as beskar.”

Raven shook her head. “I doubt it Tyran.”

Tyran looked around the medical bay and spotted the black bantha hide bag he was looking for. It was sitting on a storage container just behind him and he steered Raven towards it.

“Do me a favor please, I think I've earned that much.” He'd meant it as a joke but he could see it had only upset her more. He shook his head and grabbed the bag. “If you want to make it right, to make Dawk's sacrifice worth something. You'll wear this.” He handed the bag over to her.

Dawk grabbed the bag and opened but recoiled after she saw what was inside. “I can't wear her armor.”

“Yes you can and you will.” Tyran said. “You will wear this in her memory and you will fight to honor her because she died to save you. You owe her that much.”

Raven looked up at him. “It might not fit me.”

“When we get to Gyndine we'll have it fitted to you by one of the Mandalorian techs.” Tyran said.

Raven seemed to stare through him for a sew seconds, concentrating on something he couldn't see. Slowly her head began to nod and her eyes darted back to him. “Ok. I'll wear her armor. It'll be a start to repaying my debt to you and your friends.” She unexpectedly rushed Tyran and wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you for saving me.”

“Just doing my job.” Tyran said wrapping his arms loosely around her. “Lets get you cleaned up.” She nodded her head and separated herself from him. She climbed up on one of the medical tables while Tyran grabbed a flimsiplast glove and some bacta salve from a drawer. “Take your top off please.” She looked at him cautiously and he laughed. “Look I need to get this on your back, once that's done you can come with me and I'll show you where you can get a sanisteam and then you can apply this to the rest of your more personal wounds.”

She hesitated but pulled her top over her head just enough so that her back was exposed. Tyran winced at the criss-cross pattern cut into her flesh and the dozens of pockmarks left by the venomous bites of the amphistaffs. He squeezed a glob of the bacta salve onto the flimsiplast glove and began working it into the wounds. Raven flinched as the could substance hit her skin but she grew accustomed to it and closed her eyes as Tyran worked the healing medical substance into the deep cuts and gouges. It took him fifteen minutes and half a container of salve to cover all of the wounds.

“Ok you can put your top back on.” Raven pulled it back over her head and the fabric clung uncomfortably to the salve as it fell across her back. Tyran moved to stand in front of her and put a small dab of salve on the thumb of his glove. “Let's take care of that burn on your face.”

She sighed tiredly as he began working his thumb in circular motions around the thumb shaped wound inflicted on her during the interrogation sessions. Of all the wounds that she had suffered through, that one had to be the most painful one. He was finished treating that wound in a few seconds and stepped out of her way.

“You said something about a sanisteam?”

Tyran laughed. “That I did. Follow me.” He removed the glove and dropped it in a recycler before heading out of the medical bay with the Jedi in tow.

They had to pick their way across the Mandalorian strewn floor before they reached the personal quarters. Tyran opened the door and walked over to a dresser and pulled out some clothing and handed it to her.

“Here these should fit, you're a little shorter than my wife but these are better than those rags you've got on now.”

They were simple charcoal colored fatigues, and undershirt and pants, but they looked like the most comfortable clothes she'd ever scene at that moment.

“Thank you.” she said taking the clothes in her hands.

Tyran nodded. “After that feel free to climb into the bed and get some sleep or meditate or whatever.” he said waving at the large bed in the center of the room. “Sanisteam is just through that way, we've got six hours or so before we reach realspace and you're going to need your rest.”

He smiled at her and walked out of the room shutting the door behind him. Raven looked around the room and sat on the edge of the bed. It was soft and it called out to her almost as much as the hot water in the sanisteam called out to her. She had no doubt that the next day or so was going to be nothing but debriefing after debriefing for her. Everyone from her Jedi superiors to the Military command staff were going to want to know what she had discovered about the Yuuzhan Vong defenses around the planet.

She was sure that whatever intelligence she had discovered about the Yuuzhan Vong fleet had well been changed since the arrival of the Galactic Alliance battlegroup that had acted as a distraction to allow her and the Mandalorians to escape. She climbed up off the bed and headed into the sanisteam. Sleep could wait another hour while her bruised body soaked up every ounce of hot water this ship had to offer. She was undressed a few minutes later and standing under a hot stream of water, genuinely smiling as tension was immediately relieved from her body.

She began sobbing again. But they were happy sobs. Tyran and his team had come through for her, at high cost to themselves, but nonetheless they had gotten her offworld and now she was having a hot shower and was soon going to be sleeping in a real bed with the promise of getting real food once they reached Gyndine.

She though about the girl named Dawk who had died in the effort to rescue her, who's armor had just been given to her. Raven thought about the promise she had made to Tyran. She felt a sudden surge of responsibility wash over her. She'd wear that armor with pride and honor and somehow make herself worthy of Dawk's sacrifice.

She had to. Tyran had kept his word so she would keep his.