Chapter 1.

Latest edit; January 6th, 2015. I'm gonna stop making promises. Cheers and enjoy.

Left hand had the electro pen; tool, circuitry repair specific, essential. Right hand had the upper half of electro staff, dented. Shab'la(1) Gundark(2). A Mando couldn't take ten steps without stepping into one of those beasts' territory! Lower half of staff was balanced between feet, leaning to the right. The current buzzed as Torian checked his repairs one last time before closing the casing back up.

All the lights lit up just right. His work was done.

Torian placed his pen in his mouth, held with teeth to avoid getting it wet with his own saliva. This pen could sting for as much as 5 Megawatts. Which was overkill, but Torian wasn't always hunting prey on two feet. Gundarks could take a couple of hits before going down. He closed the shaft of his electro-staff. It clicked back together with a gentle twist of his gloved hands and he sighed with satisfaction. He rubbed the dent mark with furrowed brows.

"You're not gonna cry over it, are you?"

Torian looked away from his best friend towards his tent companion; Jogo. He contemplated a response but opted for continued silence. Jogo was atin(3) and could not discern sense when it struck him. A confrontation would be inevitable. Inhale through nostrils, exhale through mouth. Jogo wasn't worth the effort of moving.

His eyes felt dry, Torian blinked for the first time in what must have been seconds. He broke the staring contest and began to measure the dented area for further repairs. For now he unclasped his electro staff again, pulled out another poll and began forcing the metal back into its original shape. He'd sand and temper it again later when he had access to forging tools and the right materials.

The tension in camp was high, he could feel the weight of it like the edge of a knife pressed against the jugular; every beat a danger. Everyone else felt it too because Jogo wasn't the only one on edge. The clan had its routine, and it had been disrupted. The air sung with the unused energy. For a people and in a world where movement was life there was only one man who could order the Mando'ade(4) into stillness; Mandalore(5). Torian sniffed the air as if something smelt distasteful. It was an automatic response when he thought of Artus, or Mandalore the Vindicated. Part of him wondered if he'd ever be okay with his Mandalore. But then again, it was hard to be okay with having your honour stripped from you because of something someone did when you were a baby. It was difficult to adjust to a past that insisted on haunting you, like a living beast that chasing him.

His clan mates just battled boredom by busying themselves or complaining, but Torian could not rest, ever.

Jogo was one of the whiners. In fact, he often left Torian in awe of how much he could talk and yet say so little. Torian did his best to tune most of it out.

"I hate the wait."

Jogo was many things, but he wasn't typically an idiot, so he knew as he watched Torian labour away from his sleeping bag that not a word was getting through to him. Torian preferred his own company, except when Corridan was around. For some reason, when Corridan formed his Hunting party, Corridan had started offering his company to Torian. He had stopped wondering why Jogo did this months ago. The clan knew it was best to leave Torian alone. He didn't often get angry, but when he did… The majority of the clan enjoyed the mutual agreement to give Torian room. Except for Jogo, who was familiar with Torian's wrath first hand since the two Mando'ade(6) quarrelled often. He was also one of the few who wasn't concerned by the rage that Torian could exhibit when provoked. So why Jogo kept coming back for more was a mystery he didn't have any motivation to solve.

Torian looked over to Jogo for a moment then went back to his work. Jogo sighed in disappointment at Torian's refusal to respond. But Jogo was atin(7); he didn't always know when to let up, so he tried again.

"What do you think this is about?"

Torian shrugged. "Probably a special assignment."

Jogo sighed as he got off his sleeping bag. "Yea, and who is getting the assignment? What is the assignment? Why are they taking so long?!"

Torian looked back to his work at hand as he shrugged again. "We'll know soon."

Jogo groaned. "Yea, gonna stretch."

Torian lifted a hand and waved, his eyes on his staff instead of on his departing tent-mate. It felt as if only seconds later the look outs signalled. They called three horns. Foreign visitors. Torian frowned again as he froze.

There weren't many foreigners that would get an assignment directly from Artus. Unless…

Torian closed his staff and stood in one motion. He replaced his staff on its magnetic holster on his back plate and he rushed to be at the front of the line as the aruetiise(8) entered their camp. Two women advanced to enter their camp and they were both stunning in their own ways. The first one was a skinny little thing, tanned skin, brown hair cut short at her jawline and a couple of implants evident on her face marking her out as a cyborg. Sure, she had stunning caramel eyes, but she looked too soft. Medic most likely, support artillery at best.

No armour, no challenge.

Torian looked to the second girl and he had to admit that his eyes lingered longer than was polite. The first thing his mind registered about her were her red vines tattooed all along her left side. From scalp likely to toe, those vines would run covering skin and what looked suspiciously like scar tissue. This told him that she was none other than the Champion of the Great Hunt. Raidre Sharon'Atal, well known pit fighter from Nar Shaddaa(9) and now infamous bounty hunter. She had a bright career ahead of her, but her pre-Great Hunt track record alone was extensive and impressive.

To be a pit fighter on Nar Shaddaa meant you had to be the best fighter, to survive the Pits of Nar Shaddaa long enough to build a reputation meant you were both calculating and ruthless.

A real killer.

That was not a place women typically thrived in, but she'd not only decided to call that place home, but made sure everyone damn well knew it. This was why she had won and why Artus had adopted her. She had to be some new kind of mean to have lived through the places she had torn up.

He envied her… And part of him admitted that he had come to idolize her.

She had everything he wanted. A petulance within him wanted to hate her. But he couldn't. He wouldn't. Torian took a good look at this woman hoping to uncover her secrets. He wanted her success. He wanted to become Mandalore's new favourite. Deep down, he chuckled at his own irony. Of course he'd want the respect and approval of the one man who had forsaken and cast out his father from the clans. The same man who had forsaken him to be a foreigner among his own clan and people.

Torian hated that. Always being an outsider. Never having a place to call home. He looked at the Champion and decided he would find a way to learn from her. He could learn a lot from her.

Fabe was known for her skills but she was also known for being a social chameleon. Stories had circulated about her adoption party like wildfire. And they had circulated because it was like she had always been a Mando'ad(10). People raved how there was next to nothing to teach her, just Mando'a.

He looked hard at this woman, trying to memorize her.

She was older than the cyborg, he would have put her between her late twenties to early thirties. Some of the lines on her face creased deep when she frowned or squinted. But her age was by no means a disadvantage. Women hit their prime later than men and she was right in the midst of hers. She walked with assured strides and had a firm footing at every step. Her body curved with every step, a purely female movement that became accentuated under heavy armour. She was at ease in her armour even though it was made of pure Beskar(11), which was heavy. Very heavy. Torian had never owned one himself but he'd been allowed to repair them from time to time. A full chest could weigh a warrior down like nothing else. It took even the big guys a while to adjust to the extra weight. She made the shab'la(12) thing look light. It was also worn from heavy use. Was that a lightsaber scorch marks across her right flank?

If this Raidre was nothing else, she had to be tough. But then there was something else about her. He let his eyes encompass her, not just observe but understand as well. As she got closer Torian felt his attention to drift to her face again.

She looked up at that exact moment.

He didn't know how to describe the colour of her eyes but it hit him harder than the Gundark had earlier in the day. Between green and blue with grey around the pupils. Kandosii'la(13). Torian looked away before his face advertised that he found this woman attractive.

Jogo approached her to greet her, when had Jogo shown up?

"This is a camp for warriors, not for hikers. You aren't welcome here."

Torian sighed and shook his head.

The champion frowned. "I am here at the request of Mandalore."

Her voice was low, an alto. He looked up at the sound of that voice. It managed to be both soothing and menacing, like cold cyrene silk(14) hiding Mandalorian iron.

Jogo scoffed. "And you are…"

Torian stared at his friend, he didn't know? Really? What?!

Torian let a hand cover his face, the motion was done fast enough that the sound of his gloved hand colliding with his forehead was audible(15). This had to be on purpose, no one could have been THAT stupid!

Torian shook his head and surprised himself as he spoke. "She's more warrior than you, Jogo."

Jogo homed in on Torian, pissed off and looking for a target. "You're one to judge, eh, arue'tal(16)?"

Torian's eyes flicked up at Jogo. Really? Right here, right now? He sigh and looked back at the Champion expecting one reaction and becoming curious when that's not what he saw. She blinked unaffected. Perhaps she didn't speak Mando'a(17)? A fraction of a second went by before Torian responded to Jogo's gibe.

"Huntmaster declared her Grand Champion. "

Jogo frowned at Torian, who glared back at him. Torian stared down his clan mate as he came to the conclusion that Jogo must be wilfully stupid if he didn't know who they were talking to. Anyone with access to a datapad knew who this woman was.

The Gundarks probably knew who she was!

If that was not enough, her every step spoke of potential danger, like a feline she moved with graceful assurance. Each step was precise and practised. This was a woman who knew her own potential and limits. She could handle anything Jogo could throw at her, even the little cyborg looked assured by her. Even if she wasn't the Champion, she was not someone Torian would want to mess with.

"That true?"

The Champion continued to frown at Jogo. "You don't want me to prove it. Trust me."

Torian's lips twitched as the Champion taunted Jogo.

"Yea? What if I do? Winning the Great Hunt doesn't make you one of us. Finish whatever brought you here and go."

Torian shook his head, hands on his hips, what a di'kut(18).

"Never mind. It's an honour."

He looked up and their eyes met.

He knew he was in trouble and she knew it.

He cleared his throat and looked away.

"Nice to meet you too, kid. You got a name?"

Torian tried not to choke as he swallowed hard even though he found his throat was dry.

Kid?

"Torian Cadera." He spoke his name with more defiance than he meant to. "Not a kid."

The corners of her lips twitched upwards. "You don't look a day over eighteen."

"We gauge by deeds." He added and then moved on to a better topic. "Taking the head of one of our beasts?"

She could take a hint. "I'm here to take the head of something, I'll know what when I find it."

"I get it."

The best part of the hunt was discovering what you were hunting, the nature of the beast along with its name and habits. The Sith's recent activities had created a lot of Sith Spawn, which would have been annoying enough were it not for a Brood Sire that had taken up residence in one of the local caves in the darker parts of the jungle. It had made hunting inconvenient to say the least.

"The sire of the brood. No one's seen it, but it's there. You can feel its heartbeat in the walls."

Jogo remembered his tongue. "Better warriors than you have tried. They never returned."

The Champion smirked. "Then let me show you how it's done."

Jogo scoffed and walked away.

"If there's a bottom, it's probably there. Good hunting."

Torian left the women to their work. He felt restless and flexed his fingers, forming a fist and relaxing over and over again. He let his legs carry him as his mind wandered beyond the trees and the sounds of the jungle around him. After a while, he realised he was at the edge of camp, and watching the back of the two women heading toward the jungle.

They were headed in the right direction. The cave where the Brood Sire was known to be was only a few short kilometres away. His gut got tight, as it always did right before a hunt. He sighed and smirked. A little spectating shouldn't get himin any trouble. He waited until he could barely see them and followed on foot, tracking them just out of sight.

NOTES: (Brought to you by myself and Wookieepedia)

1 .Insult meaning screwed up, but can be applied as any kind of swear word from the English language.

2. A Gundark was a fearsome anthropoid from Vanqor known as one of the most vicious, strong, and aggressive species in the galaxy. These non-sentient creatures stood between 1 and 2.5 meters tall, with four powerful arms and large ears as wide as their head. Both their hands and feet ended with opposable digits. Gundarks were covered in short brown or grey hair.

3 .Literally means stubborn, but it is considered to be a compliment for Mandalorians or coming from a Mandalorian.

4 .Mandalorians in their native language, Mando'ade. Literally means 'Children of Mandalore', this could be interpreted in two ways. Both the home planet of the Mandalorians and their political and military leader is called Mandalore. So this could mean both Children of the planet Mandalore or children of the leader.

5 .Name for the Mandalorians home world as well as their political and military leader.

6 .IBIDEM(or IBID) to note #4. (That means go look at note #4.)

7 .IBIDEM to note #3.

8 .More Mando'a, this word refers to a 'stranger', an 'outsider', someone who is not Mandalorian. It can be used as an insult although typically it is not implied by the meaning of the word. The levels of xenophobia vary from one group of Mandalorians to another, though it can be argued that they are not, by far, that xenophobic considering that they often adopt other people from different backgrounds and species into their clan or family. However, this depends on who's writing the Mandalorians.

9 . Nar Shaddaa was the largest moon of Nal Hutta. More commonly known as the Vertical City, the Smuggler's Moon and Little Coruscant, Nar Shaddaa was similar to Coruscant in that its surface was entirely overgrown with city sprawl for millennia. But unlike Coruscant—which was only relatively rundown and dangerous on the lower and under levels of the world city—Nar Shaddaa was filthy, polluted, and infested with crime everywhere.

10 .Child of Mandalore, literally the planet and figuratively the political leader who is dubbed with the same name.

11 . Mandalorian iron, also known by its Mando'a name of beskar, was a near-indestructible ironore whose only known source was the Outer Rimworld of Mandalore and its moon, Concordia. The Mandalorianwarrior culture that inhabited Mandalore mined their planet for beskar, using it in the creation of weapons, armour, and star ships, occasionally even selling the rare and valuable metal on the galactic market. The introduction of certain additives during the smelting process served to increase the strength of the natural ore, and Mandalorian metalsmiths guarded the secrets of forging beskar from outsiders, passing along the techniques from one generation of metallurgists to the next, strictly within the Mandalorian community. A versatile metal, Mandalorian iron could be melded into multiple alloys and forged into various configurations.

12 .IBIDEM to note #1.

13 .Means stunning and/or amazing.

14 . Cyrene silk was a luxurious fabric favoured by the monarchy of Naboo. QueenPadmé Amidala's Foreign Residence Gown was made of black cyrene silk.

15 .It makes me happy to insert a facepalm. XD

16 .Mando'a for 'traitor's blood'. This is basically Jogo's way of reminding Torian that his father was a traitor and that by extension, being Jicoln's son, Torian is also guilty of his father's sins. This is a shaming tactic.

17 .Native language of the Mandalorians.

18 .Mando'a insult meaning 'stupid' or 'idiot'.