([b]Story P2[/b]) Source walked out into the shadows unnoticed and sent a message to his master. He sent the encrypted message in a burst of short messages in an ancient Sith language. Lord Tyko, the Jedi know of your gathering, and are organizing a strike team. -Source Source walked through the Temple halls, heading for the hangar... Master Kuff would get the job done. (Later) Master Kuff overheard the entire coversation and smiled. Everything was going as predicted. He finished his maintenance project. Kuff continued to find the Jedi Archives. He searched until he found the exact location of the temple he was looking for, then he left the Temple itself. Source changed his appearance and found a local dive. His comlink chirped. He listened to the voice message: Ib'tuur jatne tuur ash'ad kyr'amur. Siit aruetii, bora. It was from a contact on Ithor, a Mandalorian contact. Interesting, Source thought. He would respond soon, but he had some work to finish... (Later) Working long and hard, Master Kuff successfully cracked the Jedi Temple Archives. He even bypassed councilmember, even Grand Master access. Source found everything, artifact locations, temple layouts, secret classified master information, Republic/Jedi strategies, troop and fleet movements, lost planets... he found everything. Source quickly transferred many files that he needed for his employer. Strangely this time, he was not working for the Sith. An independent party was paying him far more than the Sith would besides, Source witnessed how the Sith rewarded their own--deception, betrayal, and execution. Source wasn't paid well enough for Exchange Intelligence, that's why he was doing work for others who paid far more for his work... He was being paid for information--information, only the Jedi had access to. Although Source had vast valuable information at hand--that the Exchange would go to great lengths to aquire--He was still working. All the data he needed was found. He found temple data on Illum, Dantooine, and other locations. Another part of his job was to locate a certain prisoner in Jedi custody, a Mandalorian mercenary/terrorist. He found him in a Jedi prison in a cell deep in the Temple. The last thing he could accomplish now was to erase data. He erased data on certain artifacts, planets, species, races, and even cultures--of course he transferred all this data into storage before deleting the information. He only erased minor information that would keep the business of his employer very secret. Source could definitely see a pattern in the data being erased, but what was troubling Source was the words of his last contact... a clue to his mystery, maybe. His work in the Archives was complete. He made sure his trails were untraceable as they always were, and replaced security recording feed with previous recordings. Maybe he would return, but right now he was needed in cell 104 on level 29. Fifteen minutes later, Master Kuff reached the cell he was looking for. He put in the security codes and opened the door. Inside was a man in plain red prison fatigues suspended in the middle of the cell by force restraints. The hairy, battle scarred man looked up at the intruder. "What do you want jedi scum? I will kill you!" the man screamed. "You couldn't kill an ewok with a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system, now shut up and listen to me. I'm no jedi and I'm breaking you out of this cell whether you want to or not," Source deactivated the restraint system and the criminal fell from the air. "Who are you? A Sith or bounty hunter?" the man asked. "You need to know nothing about me. I am you ticket off this world you'll do as I say, now put these on," Source handed him some robes. The scarred man put the robes on and looked like another ordinary knight. Leading the man out of the Temple, Source made his way to the entrance where they took an aircab to another district. Source said nothing, neither did the now free criminal. The cab dropped them off at a ship docking bay where Source had left his ship--a modified freighter. Once inside Source's ship, Source changed into the form of a human pilot. The man looked at Source. "So you're a shape-shifter, that explains a lot. Now where are you taking me?" he asked. Source prepped the ship and piloted the freighter into Coruscant's atmosphere. "I am taking you to see the ones responsible for your freedom. My employer wants you out of jedi custody, but if he finds that you are still as insane as you once were, you might as well shoot yourself," Source replied. Plotting a course for Mandalore, Source made the jump into hyperspace. "Ah so, a Mandalorian hired you. No worries I have changed, I will never be as stupid as I once was, besides I have vowed to regain my honor," the man told Source. "There is no honor on murdering thousands of innocents," Source shot back. "War is brutal, besides, no one is truly innocent," the man said. "I am not here to judge you, just return you," Source reminded. "Who sent you?" the man asked. "Your friends in Clan Reem." The man froze and his face turned to rage--his muscles visible "They are no friends of mine," he said. "Pity," Source dropped the subject. Silence continued on the journey to Mandalore. (Later) Source docked his freighter in docking bay 17 in the spaceport of the walled fortress-city of Dral. Mandalore felt like a place Source could call home. It was the kind of place Source could really fit in... a place where no one asked questions about your past. No one stared at you because you look different. No one looked the same. There were all sorts of races, mostly humanoid. Source walked down to the hold of the freighter as Neran--the Mandalorian convict--followed him. Neran was beginning to act strange, Source thought as he wondered about the past life of the mad-Mando who had once tried to assassinate Mandalore, exhiled from Mandalore, and was responsible for planting bombs in Coruscant's market district which resulted in the death of thousands... Source noticed that Neran would talk to himself in strange muttering sounds, as if he were having multiple conversations with himself. Choruk said Neran was mad, but Source never thought he was serious. Source couldn't understand why Reem would want to free a monster like Neran, but he trusted the man with his life--after all Reem saved his life on Vjun, for that Source owed the Mandalorian everything. But not only did her have a life debt, but he respected the man, because never had Source seen such a man of high honor and a true heart. From the outside Reem might have been the toughest hardcore warriors, but inside he was a wise and noble man--a true leader. Source shaped into a Mandalorian in full armor so he didn't feel out of place. Neran still wore the prison fatigues. "I'm finally home," Neran spoke as they both exited the ship. Outside was what looked like what Source would call a "welcoming committee," but really was a small army. Source saw over 70 armored Mandalorian warriors in full armor lined up in parade rest in 6 rows of twelve soldiers. All bore the black and gold sigil of some Mandalrian military unit. Overhead pairs of Mandalorians mounted on Basilisk war droids flew patrol. The unit of warriors were divided in the center with three rows on each side facing each other--making a pathway to walk down the ranks. In front of the path were two Mandalorians, one female Wookiee wearing a large yellow helmet with the familiar T-shaped visor; the other was a muscular male in gray full supercommando armor who looked more like a bounty hunter decorated with all sorts of trophies and more weapons than he could imagine--the man was a walking Sith-militay combat knife, but he wore a bright gold pauldron and blue cape that probably gave his rank away as some sort of commander. Behind him was a young muscular, shirtless dark haired child--who was wrestling a strill in the mud. The boy seemed very young and had multiple wounds on his arms, but didn't seem to be affected by them as he battled the creature. Source continued to walk with Neran up to the two mandos in the front. Neran looked blood red with rage. He raised his fist at the gray armored leader. "You sent me to rot in hell within the Jedi Order, just so you could free me and what? Execute me you bastard!" Neran yelled . "No, I sent you to rot to teach you a lesson for betraying your own people! And I freed you because it is right for you to be free to make your own choice, and because I offer you a second chance for you to regain your honor," the Mandalorian commander said. Neran clenched his fists. "I swore that I would kill you and your family!" But without warning, Reem punched Neran in the face--his gauntlet broke Neran's nose with a shuddering crack. Neran staggered backward as blood flowed from his nose. He immediately rose to his feet, the fire in his eyes glared as he stared down his enemy. "You will never touch my family! If you even say such a thing again, I will kill you with my bare hands. As Commander of the Mandalorian Military, I restore your honor as a warrior and Mandalorian. If you accept this you will be no longer exiled, and allowed to return, but you must swear an oath to defend and protect your clan--as well as clan Reem-- with your life. I hate what you have done, but I know that you can become a stronger man. If you reject, you will never be allowed to set foot in Mandalorian territory again. What do you say, Neran?" the Mandalore stretched his hand out to Neran. Neran stared long and hard--thinking--debating on what to do. He looked at all the Mandalorian soldiers--probably reckognizing a few from the past--then he looked at the boy who played with the strill. The child man-handled the strill and turned to meet Neran's gaze... Neran broke into tears. He shook Mandalore's hand. "I'm so sorry ner vod. Please forgive me. I am ashamed of my betrayal. I have become the very aruetii I swore to fight and protect against. I am in your debt my lord, thank you." Mandalore and Neran embraced in a Mandalorian truce shake. "You are forgiven of your past. From now on you shall be known as the warrior, Dralshy'naak. Haat, Ijaa, Haa'it. Welcome home, ner vod." Dralshy'naak, kneeled before him, and Mandalore gave the command--"K'oyacyi, buy'ce off!"--and the rest of the soldiers removed their helmets and shouted in roar of cheers and celebration. "Now let's feast!" Source smiled, one thing he loved about Mandalorian celebrations was the endless amounts of food and ale. Reem nodded at Source--who took the nod as an acknowledgement--and returned it back. He knew Choruk well enough to know something was up, something big... but whatever it was would probably wait until after the feast. After all, Source was surprised, but not shocked, to find out that Choruk Reem had become the next Mandalore. He more than deserved that title, he won it--hands down, no doubt. Source knew Choruk was one of the greatest warriors in the galaxy, that in itself was definition of the title of Mandalore. Source had seen Choruk back when he and Wyrryshrook--his Wookiee companion--were famous bounty hunters and mercenaries. The Mandalorians headed off to the Great Hall--a large cantina--to continue celebrating. Source looked around and was astonished at how heavily defended the place was. Dral was most likely the most fortified city in the galaxy. After his tough mission, Source was ready for that feast... He hurried to reserve a close seat at the bar.