Finding the camp was the easy part. Deciding how we were going to get into it was another matter entirely because while my group was down for classic military breaking and entering, the Mandos were wanting something just a little more...

Personal.

They had a grudge they wanted to settle, and subtlety was about as far from their vocabulary as you could get.

Red moved to my side as they argued heatedly with Grek and Tor, and he looked at me with worry lacing his expression, "What do you think, Captain? Should we listen to them or...?"

Frankly, even I wasn't sure. They knew the lay of the land, knew the Zygerrians, knew the camp, most likely, but they were also going in specifically to shed as much slaver blood as possible for taking one of their own. I had my priority, and that priority was getting my Jedi out in one piece with or without their help.

"...and kill every last one of them!" It was Bev who had shouted that remark. "Why do we even need to discuss this?"

"Because running in through the middle of a slaver camp is suicide for us and murder for the slaves!" Tor protested in front of me.

Wylan and Ros made no moves to intervene. They stood quietly side by side watching all of us Clones fight while Kothe tended to the weapons nearby with a shake of her head. I finally shoved myself between the two sets f angry Clones, "Fighting isn't going to help. I think we all agree that we need to burn this place to the ground, but we are here to free slaves. If we run right into the center of camp, they die. Simple as that. The Zygerrians won't let us take them."

"Don't want to risk killing your little Jedi, eh?" Wylan spoke up from his spot beside Ros before he pushed himself off of the tree they were leaned against and made his way over to us before he shot a look at his nephews, "The Kaminii has a point. If we don't want to see Nabat strung up by his lekku, we need one better than what you shebs have given me so far. Start acting like Beroyas - start acting like Mando'ad."

There was an admonishment in that phrase that made every last one of them shut up and step back almost meekly behind Wylan as Ros stood beside him and folded his arms across his chest, "Listen to your ba'vodu. You're bickering in front of outsiders like children. It's beneath you." He then turned his attention to us, "Listen Kaminii, I'm well aware that you do things a certain way with the Republic, but we run a whole different show here. You're running on our information after our bounty on our good graces, so don't overstep your bounds. Kando, you have a plan?"

Truth was that I didn't, but I could come up with one, "Who has a map of the base?" I asked as I stepped towards the Beroyas. It was Kote who moved forward and produced a small map uck, flicking it open with his wrist. All eyes were on that holographic map as they gathered around, forming a cluster around it. Most of the Beroyas had their helmets on and you could see the blue reflection in their visors. "I'm thinking several smaller teams... Maybe three or four. We hit the base all at once to draw the attention of the slavers everywhere else - scatter them, thin them out."

"And keep them off the slaves long enough for Nabat and your little Jedi to try something, right?" Kote asked as he glanced over at me. I think he knew that I was winging this whole plan, but if he did he never uttered a word. "We need to find a way to let them know."

I looked over at Tor, "Could you find a way to get a message inside to Talen?"

Tor stopped for a second and seemed to run through his list of potential ideas before he stopped and grinned at me, "Yes, Captain, I think I can."

*

We broke into three teams. The plan was to strike three separate entrances into the camp and scatter as much of the guard as we could to give Talen and Nabat enough time to organize some semblance of a prison riot of sorts. We had gotten the message in, and we had gotten it through in Chagri, of all languages, and one that the Zygerrians wouldn't be expecting. All that was left was for us to actually break in.

Infiltration was a group specialty, so while the other two groups of Mandos were making their loud, dramatic entrances at the far two entrances, we decided to set ourselves up for success elsewhere. There had been a loading entrance where goods were brought in and out, and while the guards got distracted by thermal detonators wrecking the main entrance and the worker's exit, we were able to slip in undetected through the cargo doors - well, undetected by everyone except a group of excited twi'leks that Red promptly freed with the help of Tor.

Not long later, sirens heralding a slave revolt were ringing out across the camp. Talen must have gotten the message because it happened almost exactly when we hoped it would. We found one of the monitoring stations and checked in in time to see the doors of holding cells go flying open on the monitors befor the figure responsible emerged. Talen looked like hell from what we could see, and he was accompanied by a twi'lek we assumed to be Nabat. Tor flicked through the other feeds and we saw the Mandos wreaking havoc across the camp freeing twi'leks and putting everything else to the torch.

The revolt had spread out and even slaves on the opposing side of the camp had started pitching in. "Well, Captain? Are we going to help the Padawan or not?" Grek had asked with the anticipation of a fight barely able to be kept out of his voice.

"What are we waiting for?" My reply was all the encouragement they needed.

It didn't take us long to find the carnage, and from somewhere in the distance I could hear Tracyn shouting something in Mando'a and laughing maniacally moments before there was a rather large explosion. I figured they had it under control wherever they were. Talen was, of course, in the thick of it. He had gotten ahold of one of the guards' electrostaves and was keeping a handful of slavers away from a group of fleeing twi'leks.

"Fall back and stay behind me!" He shouted just moments before Nabat jumped down from an overhang and disarmed anotehr slaver with barely any effort. "Nabat..."

"Hey, Mando'ad!" Nabat reminded him as he took the slaver's rifle with a laugh and began popping off rounds at the slavers diving for cover. "Can you handle them from here, jeti'ika? I'm going to find some weapons and my beskar'gam."

"Try and get my lightsaber!"

"On it! Any of you who want to fight, come with me!"

We jumped down into the courtyard - a small arena where they likely held private sales from the looks of it - and Talen shot a look our way as the biggest, stupidest grin came across his face, "Kando! Red! Grek! Tor!"

"Good job, kid, you remembered our names!" Red joked as he whipped around and hit one of the slavers in the chest with a blaster shot. "Now can you remember how to fight, too, or do we need to teach you again?"

"Just help these people get to the exit and hold it! I'm going to hold right here so they have a pass behind me," Talen called as he used the broken electrostaff to knock away another blaster shot.

While the other three fell back, I ran to Talen's side and skidded to a halt beside him, DC-17's in hand, "Yeah, not on your life, kid. I'm staying right here."

"I appreciate the sentiment, Kando, but right now these people need to be your priority." He looked up at me before the next wave of slavers had forced open the door, and he frowned when he realized that I wasn't going to move, "Captain, that's an order. Fall back with the rest of the men and hold the exit." The door shuddered and he snapped his head back to me, "Move, Captain!" He gave me a force push back to the rest of the group and dove to the adjacent wall just in time to avoid a volley of blaster fire.

"That's rude!" I heard Kote call from behind me as Red dragged me back behind the makeshift barricade that Kade had been erecting earlier when we saw him on the monitors.

Talen sprinted into the open and threw his electrostaff away, standing before a group of seven or eight Zygerrians unarmed and looking strangely calm. Nobody made a move to fire for fear of setting the Zygerrians off and having them kill Talen, so we all sat there in a tense standoff.

"I will return quietly if you allow these people to leave," Talen's voice rang out level and clear, and he sounded a lot older than he was.

"After all of the damage you've done? You have barely been worth the effort!" One of the slavers snapped and there was a smug sense of satisfaction that ran through me. Talen had definitely been keeping them busy. "There are plenty of people out there still willing to pay for a Jedi's corpse!"

"Ad!" Ros had shouted as he tossed him his beskad. Talen caught it as if there was no effort in the task at all and spun on the balls of his feet to meet his attackers with a flourish of the blade.

"He's got a weapon!" One of the slavers had shouted as Talen launched another blaster bolt back at them, striking one of the slavers directly in the chest.

There was truly something mesmerizing about watching him fight. He knew where the blaster shots were coming from before they even fired, and something about that was just absolutely amazing to watch. One shot got deflected off of the blade of the beskad and launched itself directly into one of the Zygerrian's eyes with all of the precision of a sniper.

"Fall back to the door," Talen commanded as he began to back off of the platform at the center of the ring. "I'll keep them back!"

"Talen!" Nabat called out from across the ring as the doors slid open. He was armored in his beskar'gam now, and soon we saw why he had caught our Jedi's attention. He sprinted forward and reared back to throw something. The silver hilt of Talen's lightsaber caught the air as it soared to him from across the pit, and I saw a look of recognition flash across his face before he smiled.

Talen reached one hand out and closed his eyes as the silver cylinder shuddered in midair and shot into his hand. It took no more than a breath after it had hit his hand for it to shoot out its brilliant green glow and instantly snap up to launch another blaster bolt back at now furiously afraid Zygerrian slavers. Beskad in one hand and a lightsaber in the other, our small Jedi looked more formidable than any warrior I had ever seen.

"How dare you, slave?" The seeming leader of the slavers shouted from the platform, but Talen stabbed the beskad into the ground and flung them all off with one wave of his hand.

After he had done that, he threw the beskad back to Ros and returned his gaze to the slavers. "I am no slave. I am Talen Jall, a Padawan of the Jedi Order, and so long as I draw breath you will not lay a finger on any of these people ever again!" Even dressed in tattered old clothing, something about him as he stood there with his lightsaber in hand made him seem like a Jedi from the old children's stories. He didn't look like a kid.

He looked like a Jedi.

A real Jedi.

And they looked scared.

I remember Iru telling us about Jedi.

They are the best warriors in the galaxy, but their soul purpose in life is to lay down their own to defend others whether they deserve it or not. I call it foolish sentimentality.

The Mandos called it something different.

"Mesh'la," I heard Ros murmur behind me as Talen stood alone against the slavers with a conviction that put even Clones like Tor to shame.

I made to join him, to help, but he held one hand back out at me, "Kando, keep falling back. Stay behind me." His voice was calm, serene almost, amid the gunfire and the crack of whips.

I saw the slave collar on his neck before anything else as he started backing towards the door slashing away blaster bolts as though he'd been doing it his entire life, and from behind him we started laying down covering fire. I'm pretty sure the slavers never knew what hit them until they were lying on the ground.

Nabat came over the comms, "We got them. You all get out of there. And jeti'ika? Vor'e."

"Don't thank me until we're out of this, Nabat!" Talen called back before he deflected one final bolt back and sprinted past us to the door. He flung one hand out and seemed to yank it open with a grunt, "Everyone out!" We all made it through the volley seemingly unscathed where the twi'lek from the previous freedom mission waited with mounts and hastily repaired transports for all of the escapees. Talen was the last one through the heavy metal entrance doors, and as soon as he had stepped through, he dropped his hand and let them slam shut against a new volley of blaster fire. Red held out one hand and pulled him onto one of the transports as we managed to speed away long before the battered Zygerrians could manage to get the door open.

*

We made it to the outskirts of a small ruined town some miles away when all of the transports pulled over to check their wounded, and we did the same. Red and Grek jumped down first and helped Talen down with them before Tor and I followed. Talen almost immediately hugged Red before anything else happened and I heard him laugh, "Hey, calm down, kid!" Red still returned the hug despite the "admonishment" and soon Talen had his arms around Grek's waist next.

Not even Tor was spared, and frankly, he looked like he was ready to die from the massive breach of regulation in the "fraternization" department. Talen finally turned his attention to me with a smile and I found myself on the receiving end of the hug. "I knew you were going to come," he whispered against my chest plate.

"I'm definitely not leaving you behind, kid," I replied as I returned the hug somewhat. I just knew that Red and Grek were smirking at me behind their helmets, but I wasn;t going to give them the satisfaction of acknowledging it.

Talen released me and smiled up at me with gratitude written all across his face before he turned to look at the Mandalorians, who had formed a small group and were watching him from a distance away. Ros shook his head and pulled off his helmet, "You were right about your jeti'ika. That was impressive."

"Mandokarla, jeti'ika," Wylan nodded at him as he passed and a ghost of confusion passed across Talen's tired face. I was more stunned that there had been a compliment that actually passed Wylan's lips than anything else that had transpired.

Kothe was behind him before any of us and she wrenched the slave collar off of his neck and tossed it up into the air before a shot from her blaster sent it flying, "Haar'chak! Never again!"

Talen's neck was red and raw where the collar had been and the skin had been burned. Angry was an understatement for the feeling that was boiling just beneath my skin. Talen hesitantly reached up and touched the reddened flesh just before his fingers recoiled away with a wince. The mark would blister most likely if he didn't get something for it soon. It would be uncomfortable, but he would survive.

"How are you, kid?" I asked him as I walked up beside him where he was still testing the raw flesh of his neck with the very tips of his fingers.

He smiled up at me, "I've been better." Despite that, he wobbled on his feet uneasily and seemed to be trying hard to keep his balance, "Okay," he began again as his voice wavered ever so slightly, "let's not do that again." I wrapped an arm around him just as his knees buckled beneath him and tried my best to keep him upright as he shook his head, "We still have to find the assassin..."

Talen was exhausted, but alive. That was all that mattered to me. I swept him up off his feet and held him like he was going to shatter if I held him with any amount of roughness. My kid was tough. He'd survive, but I'd be damned if I was going to make him walk back after that display.

His head fell against the crux of my shoulder and his eyes fluttered closed with a quiet groan. "I feel like I'm about to snap in half..."

"You did great, kid. Leave the rest to us. We'll take care of it from here," I replied with a smile behind my helmet.

I saw him smile as his body finally relaxed, "I know."

Wylan made no move to make a remark, and Ros gave a look to Kothe before she spoke, "Your cadur'ika is brave."

I turned to them as Red and the others crossed their arms. I didn't need to see faces. I knew the smug look of pride they were wearing because I was wearing it too. "The bravest." We didn't say another word to them as we made our way back to our camp, little Jedi well in hand.

*

There was always a part of me that somehow knew that this was going to be a mission that changed everything.

Ros had triumphantly stormed into our makeshift camp and announced that Wylan had intercepted transmissions that confirmed that our assassin was rightly irritated that we stepped on his toes. Now, with the slavers scattered all over the place, his plan for triumphantly taking their leader was dashed and we were now apparently on the top of his hit list.

The fact of the matter remained that I had stationed myself outside of one of the old buildings where Kothe and Orar had helped construct a place for Talen to sleep, and every word they said was going in one ear and out the other as I listened in for any sign of Talen needing help. He was fast asleep by that point, but a part of me couldn't stop worrying. There was still one part of me that chided myself for being like this to a Jedi, of all people, but I just couldn't stop myself. I eventually broke away from my post and found myself staring down at the kid as I reached out and rested a hand on his forehead. The small fever he had developed earlier had broken, which was beyond good, and he now laid fast asleep on the makeshift cot that Kothe and Orar had thrown together out of excess blankets and stray pillows that some people had given up.

Word spread that we had extracted Talen and some of the locals had come to see him, including the one they called Seku. As I took up a seat beside Talen's bed, she had come back in and met my eyes almost warily as she brought forward some food and set it on the ruins of what had once been a carven table. She sat down on the ground next to him and brought her own hand to his forehead, brushing some of the hair back from his face with a smile, "He is brave," she began, "to give himself for others."

"It's what Jedi are supposed to do, but I agree," I couldn't help but smile as I pulled off my helmet for the first time that day, "He is brave."

Seku was quiet for a moment before she spoke again, her hand brushing itself through Talen's hair in an almost motherly way as she did, "You're after Sota'ven, aren't you?" She turned her green eyes to me and gave a smile, "I'm not a child. I know why you and the Mandos are here. Nabat told me everything. He needs to be stopped. The Republic may have left us to suffer, but killing innocents involved in little more than the families of those who gave the command is not the way to vengeance. Murder is too far."

"Glad to see you're being smart about this."

"Talen was proof that not all of those in the Republic are as callous as Orn Free Taa to the plight of our people." Talen shifted beneath her hand and she stopped stroking his hair to be sure she didn't wake him before he settled back down. She smiled at him again, "He reminds me of my own son."