Commander of Wolves

Chapter One: Foundling

A/N: I recommend listening to the song while you read. I think it just makes the chapter hit harder. And sets the tone for the rest of the book. 

On the snowy planet of Krownest, in the Mandalore sector, a woman in full Mandalorian armor patrols the forest from the air. When she reaches a heavily forested area, the woman stops. The reason for her stop is the sound of wailing, the wailing of a newborn child. It was faint and weak, but it was there. The woman lands and takes her helmet off, revealing her red hair. The cold of Krownest usually killed the children that were dropped on the planet... and they were dropped there for that very purpose.

The woman, Bo-Katan Kryze, walks forward and sees the child crying in the snow. For not being a very maternal woman, Bo-Katan felt a pull toward the young child. She picked up the child as soon as she got close enough, noting the small size of the baby. Before Bo restarted her jet pack, she replaced her helmet. The woman knew that the chances of this baby surviving were slim to none already, especially if she didn't get the child to the Wren mansion soon.

After quickly flying to the Wren mansion, Bo landed in the snow and quickly made her way to the medical wing of the house taking off her helmet, and after comming the head doctor. Chun Kross, the head doctor of clan Wren, met her at the door to the medical wing.

"Lady Bo-Katan, what do you need?"

"Another baby was abandoned in the forest-"

Chun sighed, he was getting tired of having to autopsy babies who all died of hypothermia. Then having to help bury them. Children were important to Mandalorian's, they were the future. Chun himself was a father, and he could never even entertain the idea of placing his son in the snow of Krownest to die.

He reached for the baby but Bo kept her arms away from him.

"This one is still alive."

Chun's eyes widened. They had never found a living child before.

"We need to warm it up. Hurry, get it in here."

Chun and Bo brought the small, now unconscious, baby into the medical wing, and laid it in a small crib. The first thing he did was pull off the baby's waterlogged blanket, which revealed that the child was female. After a quick examination, Chun said,

"She needs skin to skin contact. It will help warm her up."

"I'll do it," Bo said, surprising even herself with her words.

Only showing mild surprise, Chun nodded, and they went into his office where it was warmer, and where there were less people. While Chun got several blankets down, and kept the baby awake, Bo removed the top part of her armor and blacks. Then she picked up the baby girl and pulled a blanket onto her.

Bo had to keep herself from flinching when her bare skin made contact with the girl's. Her skin felt like ice, and it made Bo wonder how the hell the little girl hadn't died or gotten frostbite. After about three hours, the girl's internal temperature had warmed up and was a pink color rather than the pale gray she had been when Bo had brought her to the medical wing. She was also conscious now.

Chun still frowned when he examined the baby girl after putting her into the warmest newborn clothes that he had. She had started crying now, but you could see her ribs a little bit, and she was smaller than average. He had tested her blood while Bo was warming the baby up, and it revealed high levels of oxytocin, estrogen, and 17-OHP. That told him that this baby girl was most definitely a newborn, and her small size made him think that she was either premature or that she was in a set of multiples.