We normally never asked for special dispensations for missions, but just this once we begged Talen to extend our mission. In a way, it connected with what we were doing, and it took little effort for Talen to convince his master that there was work that needed doing on Mandalore. Agen Kolar cut an impressive figure, even over holo. Talen regarded him with respect, and if what we heard about him was true, then it was more than warranted. Agen Kolar was supposedly one of the best bladesbeings in the entirety of the Jedi Order. That counted for more than a little something.

Talen stood before his hologram, hands folded in front of him with a smile on his face. It was a genuine one, bright and cheery, and though his master never seemed to give him more than a nod in reply, there was something about the two of them that showed me just how happy the kid was with his taciturn master. It was only after the holo switched off and Talen turned to me with one of those giddy smiles on his face that he said, "He was happy to see me, too." I didn't quite know how to respond to that considering I hadn't seen his master's mouth twitch upwards even once, and judging my skeptical look, Talen added, "He smiles with his eyes, not his face - kinda like you." I figured I was just going to have to trust him as he joined us all in the briefing room.

Trill looked up from a datapad he was browsing with Vex and frowned at Talen, "What's the word from the Master Jedi, Tal?" I could still see Tor glaring at Trill uncomfortably at the use of such a casual form of address. "Where are we headed?"

I could see the hope on Red and Grek's faces as they waited for Talen to deliver Master Kolar's verdict, and I found myself secretly hoping that the answer was "yes", too. Talen looked out over us before he turned to Kote and Orar with a half-smile, "You might want to prep your codes, vode. We're heading for Concordia."

I swore that Red was going to start cheering had he not been for the decorum of military life keeping him in check, but he had the dumbest kriffing smile come to his stupid face. Even Grek was looking rather pleased with himself. All the while, Kote and Orar began to chatter excitedly to one another in Mando'a, and I knew that they must have been thrilled to have some support. The Beroyas had earned it for their help on Ryloth. None of us would argue that.

Well...

Except maybe Tor.

The entire time, he had been sitting there in silence with a look on his face. I knew it well. He'd get it whenever we roped him into doing something he didn't like. He never usually protested or screamed about it outside of his initial grumblings, and if it came from a commander, he was usually okay. This time, though. This time he was staring at the wall with his jaw set as we all began to settle into the transports.

"What's got your bucket in a rut?" I asked as I sat down across from him, making him finally look up at me and frown.

"I just... sir, with all due respect, I feel like Red and Grek are too personally invested in this mission. I think their emotions will get in the way if some tougher choices need to be made." I scanned Tor's face as he spoke, and I had never seen him more deadly serious than he was at that moment.

"Okay, so let me ask you something."

"Anything, sir."

"Have your brothers ever given you a reason to doubt them before?" I knew the answer as soon as I asked. That look of realization crossed his face followed by the fraction of guilt before he shook his head.

"Never, sir." He hesitated a moment before he folded his hands between his knees as he leaned forward on his elbows, "But they never had something else they wanted before this, either." He looked up at me and shook his head, "I trust them with my life, Kando, but..."

Part of me understood why he was being the way he was without him having to even say it. "No one is going to ditch you, Tor."

"Yeah, maybe not you," was all he replied with before he pushed himself up and looked down at me. "Gonna go grab my datapad and double-check some stuff. And... Kando?" He looked down at me from where he stood and rolled his eyes at himself, "Kriff, sorry, I meant "captain"... I never doubted you. Not for one second."

Tor had put in for a reassignment once after a nasty fight between him and Red. He had stormed up to me and handed me the datapad looking like he was ready to absolutely explode. Talking him out of it was the best decision I ever made. He had always gotten along decently well with the squad, and Red and Grek would die for Tor just like he'd die for them, but recently that little conflict of personalities had started to get back to where it was when I had first joined the squad. It was something you never wanted to see among your brothers.

I wandered out of the troop quarters and found Talen's room. I buzzed myself in and found Talen kneeling in the center of the room with his lightsaber hovering in front of him as other small objects in the room swirled around him. I debated saying something before the kid beat me to the punch, "You're worried."

"How many times..."

"Have you told me not to read you?" Talen asked with a smile as the objects all stopped their spinning and were replaced where they had been sitting. He reached out and took his lightsaber from the air. "More times than either of us care to admit," he opened his eyes and stood up before he clipped the saber to his belt. "Credit for your thoughts?"

"It's about my squad."

"I feel the tension," he nodded and moved to sit on his bed as he gestured to the chair by the lone desk he had in his room. I took it and found myself sitting across from him. "You're worried about whether your squad will stay together, right?"

I nodded.

Talen seemed to think for a moment before he looked back at me with a smile, "You're a good brother, Kando, and an even better leader, but sometimes all you can do is let your brothers make their own choices."

"Doesn't make it any easier," I looked from my hands to Talen, who smiled at me in that way he always does.

"Sometimes, letting go is harder than hanging on, but it's always the better decision. I promise."

"That sounds like experience talking."

All Talen did was smile back, only a there was something almost a little sad in his eyes when he did.

*

"Hello ladies, and welcome to Air Republic. This is your handsome and talented pilot and his slightly less handsome co-pilot speaking-"

"Hipshot, we are literally Clones-!"

"-and we just wanted to thank you for flying with us today. Forecasts indicate that it's clear with a chance of gunfire and antiaircraft turbulence. We recommend you take ahold of the overhead bars for support and hang on for dear life."

We had crowded onto the landing craft and followed Hipshot's advice as we prepped to get deposited on Mandalore. Helmets went on, weapons were loaded, and I could almost feel the palpable excitement that had begun to ripple through the assembled Clones. We were getting dropped into a live combat zone, and there was a certain feeling you got before you got there. It's difficult to explain. Your chest starts to tingle and your heartbeat picks up. You never feel more alive than in the moment before the doors open.

We hit the LZ on Concordia amid a rather impressive flurry of gunfire and the sound of jetpacks. It was like something out of a story we got told by our instructors as little kids. The LZ was filled with Mandalorians, and it didn't take us long to recognize the Beroyas out of all of them. Ros had moved to the forefront, dressed in full beskar'gam complete with one of those shoulder capes emblazoned with the Reek that had been Clan Beroya's symbol for thousands of years.

Kote and Orar barely waited for the ship to hit the ground before they had jumped out and reunited themselves with their family. Kothe had moved up and gave them each a soft headbutt before moving to stand by Ros' side as we joined them on the ground.

"Welcome to Concordia!" Ros shouted over the engines, jetpacks, and spontaneous rounds of blaster fire. There was something of a laugh in his voice as he spoke and reached out to grab a hold of Talen's forearm in a friendly greeting. "Thanks for coming so fast, jeti'ika. We need all the help we can get."

"I won't lie, I'm here on official business, too, but our goals line up. You want the Separatists off Concordia. We need to know what they're looking for," Talen nodded as Ros took in what he was saying. "We'll help however we can while we're here, Ros. You can count on us."

"I know we can. Wouldn't have brought you back otherwise," Ros nodded, face obscured by his helmet. He turned to us, "Welcome back, Kaminii. Good to see some familiar faces."

"Feels good to be back, Ros," Red said and Grek nodded along with the statement.

Ros turned to me next and nodded, "Ad, welcome home. Wylan has been missing if they haven't told you yet. We're looking for him now." He stopped and laughed when Seku emerged beside me, "And the Twi! Good to see you again, vod. Damn, kid, you really brought us the entire arsenal!"

"Let's fill them in," Kade stepped up, "because we need all the help we can get."

"A whole bunch of dar'manda have joined up with the Dathomiri. Any true Mandalorians have fallen in with Bo-Katan and the Night Owls. If you're looking for what Talen has said you are, then we think we know how you can find it," Tracyn nodded to Kade, who in turn nodded to us.

"Your turncoat filled us in," Kothe spoke up, "and told us we're looking for a shipment of something called Isotope-5. No idea what that is, but we were able to dig up some old notes on it kept by some of our previous Mand'alors from back in the day when we had an agreement with the Sith Empire. The dar'manda have a shipment of it hidden away in one of the old mines. Problem is, none of us know which mine it is and currently the Clans are still trying to rally and stop infighting amongst themselves."

Ros nodded, "Beroya and Ordo are pretty much unified, apparently so are Beviin, Skirata, and Vau. No word from some of the smaller clans, though. Meaning: most territory right now is pure chaotic warzones and there's not much we can do about it until we manage to get everyone on the same page."

"How long will that take?" Seku asked. "How hard is it to united Mandalorians?"

"Harder than you'd think, Seku," Ros chuckled under his breath. He looked over us with a slow nod before he spoke again, "Take your time to look around the camp and set up your things. Kando, once you've finished, we need to talk in private about something, if you don't mind."

I nodded my consent as he walked off with his sons in tow. Talen had turned back to Jent squad and began issuing orders to unload the cargo and set up a safe place for Venn as Seku approached me and rested a hand on my arm, "How are you doing?"

"Decent. Feels good to actually be back in a fight," I replied and nodded at her. "How are you holding up? You were as banged up as I was."

"Nothing a little bacta couldn't fix," she patted my upper arm and looked back over the camp with a nod. "Clan Beroya has been a good friend to us. It's good we can finally return the favor."

"I agree with you there."

She patted my arm and smiled at me as she rejoined her own group when Red sauntered up to me and glanced between the two of us before he let out a long, slow whistle, "So... Twi'leks?"

"Not another word."

*

We had been working on getting our camp set up for most of the day, and the whole time, Red and Grek were chattering away excitedly and admiring the Mandalorians from afar while Tor had lapsed into his usual silence. He seemed to have fallen into the monotony of cleaning his rifle, only occasionally looking over at his two other squadmates with a looked that I couldn't quite place. I found myself mostly absorbed in my own thoughts while I finished setting up our temporary shelters in the ruins of the old mining facility Clan Beroya had claimed as their own.

Ros and the boys had made their home outside in a series of tents to keep watch. Having the long-lasting energy of the Clones seemed to have been paying off when it came to guard duty. Red and Grek took any excuse to join the Beroyas, and I saw Kothe and Ros pull them aside once.

Tor saw it, too.

We both seemed to know what it was about. I saw him tighten his hold around his rifle as they vanished into one of the tents and he muttered something under his breath as he refocused his attention on cleaning the thing for the fourth time that day.

"You alright?" I asked as I made my way over to him while holding two crates of thermal clips.

"What are we doing that's not good enough?" He looked up at me with a frown plastered across his face.

The bitterness that had taken hold of Tor's voice surprised me.

"What? All of a sudden, we aren't good enough for them? The Republic isn't enough to make them happy?"

"Tor..."

He gave a snort and shook his head, "Forget I said anything. They never enjoyed bringing me along anyway. Let them go with the kriffing Mandos." He looked like he wanted to add something at the end, but he cut himself off and looked up at me, "At least you're waiting for the kriffing war to end before you run off."

"You don't mean that."

"Don't I? Kan- Captain. Grek and Red have never liked having me around. I'm not stupid," he looked back down at his rifle as he hoisted the stock up onto his thigh.

"They're your brothers, Tor..." I sat down beside him as he looked the rifle up and down.

"They're your brothers and I'm your brother, too, but I get the feeling they like you better than me," he faced me with a look that told me he was borderline hurt. "I'm a walking rule-junkie and they're... not. We fight all the time and..."

"And they would fistfight a krayt dragon for you," I added as he trailed off, and Tor's eyebrows went up a fraction of a centimeter. "Family fights, Tor. We sock one another and move on."

Tor searched my face for a long time before we looked up to see Red and Grek emerge from the Beroya tent with grins stuck on their faces. Whatever hope or encouragement I had given Tor faded when he saw them and he looked back down at his thighs, "Like they've ever smiled like that around me." He stood up and passed them by without a word as he went to join Jent squad on look-out.

"Ros wants to see you," Grek thumbed back to the tent as Red paused to watch Tor walk away in silence. "What's up with Walking Reg Manual?"

I stood up as Red hesitated and glanced back at me, "I'm gonna go check on him. He's been broody lately. Did he mention anything to you?"

I wanted Tor to be the one to tell them himself, so all I did was give a shrug as I grabbed my own rifle and made for the tent. I saw Red and Grek exchange words before an exasperated Grek tossed his hands up and Red trotted off after Tor.

*

Ros looked up as I entered, and it was then that I realized that we were the only ones there in that tent. "Good. You're here," Ros hit a few buttons on the holoprojector as the image of Wylan's face appeared. Before I could ask, he hit play and the holomessage began.

"Tal'vod, I want to apologize for not contacting you sooner. I'm sure you know all about the Dathomiri they call Maul by now. Good news being I got out when they killed Pre. The bad news is that the Dathomiri has the Dark Saber. I should have listened to you, but you know me. I'm old and stubborn. Send either the kids or yourself, but meet me at the place where the enemies became brothers and we can be aliit once again. I'll be waiting."

"He's talking about an old canyon where we fought off a group of dar'manda and became blood brothers," Ros cut in as the message ended with a frown. "I can't go. Clan Beroya needs me now more than ever. Can you go, Kando?"

"Me?"

"You're his son, after all. Besides, if he's wanting to meet, he has something planned. I trust you and your vode with my life... and more importantly, with his."

I knew the gravity of what he was asking. Wylan and Ros were blood brothers, brothers by choice, and I knew from the look on Ros' face that this was no request he made off the cuff. "I'll need permission."

"Better to ask forgiveness," Ros muttered as he sighed, "and this won't be on mission parameters for your Jedi. You'll have to go it alone. Think on it, but make it fast."

I nodded and turned away to leave when I heard Ros behind me.

"When you and your brothers get back and things calm down... I need to speak with you about something important, if Red and Grek still want it."

"Is this about them becoming part of your family?" I asked as I slowly turned to him, and Ros cocked a small smile.

"Yeah. It is. We'll worry about that when you come back. Get some rest and let me know what you'll do. I'll be around."

I stepped out of the tent and started to attempt to formulate what exactly it was I wanted to say to Talen as an excuse to get out by myself. Something kept telling me to just be honest because the kid would likely find out. As I was heading back to the mining facility, I glanced over and saw Red sitting cross-legged on a crate beside Tor, who was standing with his rifle keeping watch. Red was laughing about something, and I saw Tor doing that thing with his mouth that people do when they're happy.

It even made me smile a little bit.

Talen found me before I could find him, and he walked up to me with one of those goofy smiles on his face, "Captain?"

"Can we, uh... Can we chat a second?" I glanced up and saw Jent Squad watching us. "Just you and me?"

Talen seemed more surprised than anything, but he nodded and gestured to the control room he recently converted into a briefing room. "What's wrong? You seem nervous."

I wasn't even sure how to begin to ask him, so I took a deep breath and silently prayed to the stars that he wouldn't drop me then and there, "I need to go on a rescue mission and I need to go alone, so... Permission to leave, uh... sir?"

He stared at me like I had four heads and six arms. Not that I could blame him considering I had given him absolutely no accompanying context to the rather strange request. "Kando... I need you here. You're one of our senior officers..."

"I know, kid, I do, but..." I finally sighed, "It's about Wylan. He needs my help. I know it's against regulations and we have other things to do, but..."

Talen's face changed when I brought up Wylan. His brow furrowed and he pulled his lower lip under his teeth, and he stood there like that for so long that I felt like I was going to explode. When he did speak, the only words to pass his lips were, "Okay, I have no idea what's going on, but... How many days do you need?"

The fact he let me go still impresses me.

"I only ask because the most I can cover you for is three."

Three was all I was going to need.