The Mandalorian Jedi

Part Two: Chapter Six

Tripp found me sitting on the bed, Naakla curled up in my lap as I fiddled gently with her ears. He paused in the doorway and coughed slightly to get my attention,
"General? Dinner's ready." I nodded and stood up, dislodging Naakla as I did so. He started to turn away but I stopped him with a hand on his arm,
"Are you sure about this? If there's a bounty on my head... I can't destroy what you've built here for the sake of some armour."
"I owe you my life General. That day, on Lothal, anyone else would have left me to die. I am yours to command, and these men are too. Besides you can't very well go running around the galaxy with Jedi robes on," he nodded to the grey fabric spilling out of my bag, "let alone help us find more of our brothers to set free." I nodded again and mumbled my assent,
"We're well hidden here, General. You have no need to worry." He said it with such sincerity that I couldn't help but believe him.

The clones were seated around the vast room in small groups, talking, laughing, drinking. I counted twelve in total, including Tripp and one older clone who seemed to be a medic, clanging around in a small room opposite where I stood and swearing about bacta tanks and bandages. Tripp followed my gaze and said, "That's Mec, our resident medic, he's a little... odd, but he's exceptionally talented." Everyone stopped talking and looked up at the sound of Tripp's voice, their gazes snapping to me. I fought the urge to hide behind Tripp and smiled slightly awkwardly. My interactions with clones in the past had always been easy and light-hearted. Effortless. The mutual guilt made it difficult now, their memories of hunting and killing Jedi that fateful night, my own of the clones I had slaughtered. Someone coughed and it echoed around the room, emphasising the silence that had drawn itself out a little too long. Tripp suddenly smiled and clapped his hands,
"Right boys, we have a heist to plan! Stop stuffing your ugly faces and let's get to work." Something about the relaxed way he said it put a stopper in the tension and everyone picked up their bowls and grumpily shuffled over to what appeared to be a makeshift meeting area (a vague circle of boxes that they either sat on or leant against). Tripp nudged me forward and I sat down, trying to feign confidence. A couple of clones walked off to grab drinks, bringing me back a bowl of soup as they did so. It wasn't much but it smelt divine after suffering through my own awful cooking for the last four years. I thanked the clone that brought it and received a small bow and smile in response.

It took a couple of minutes for the group to settle down and once they had Tripp encouraged everyone to introduce themselves. Beetle, Gin, Wraith (who had, at some point, lost his hearing), Mec and Gray had been with Tripp during Order 66, they were the only clones he had managed to save alongside himself. They had picked up Owl, Luk and Kess (the mechanic) a few months later whilst raiding an abandoned outpost for food. Bluff and Arch had attempted to arrest Wraith and failed quite spectacularly.  And finally there was Grimm who had come to them severely injured after being caught betraying his squadron, he'd lost an arm, a leg, and his sight in the process. I greeted and thanked them all, and promised I would help them recover as many clones as possible. I had nothing better to be doing, with no leads on Grogu and the empire on constant alert for my existence. Gray, who had been the first to ask for my help, nodded in sharp thanks and then, to my surprise, asked, "What's the job, General?"
"There's a Hutt facility somewhere in the lower levels of the city. They store whatever valuable trophies they come across there, including my Mother's Mandalorian armour. I need that armour if I'm going to keep a low enough profile to help you. It's heavily guarded, and I'm not entirely sure as to its location, but someone should know if we ask around. Sounds easy enough, right?" My hands moved as I spoke, translating what I said into intergalactic sign language for Wraith. It was one of the many languages Mace had made me learn as part of my training. I swallowed slightly at the memory then carried on, "any ideas?" There was a moment of silence then Luk slowly raised his hand,
"I think I know the place Sir. It's deep down the city, patrolled by all sorts of guards. I heard someone talking about it in the bar the other day, something about security increasing. Arch and I went to check it out, it's well patrolled but with talents like yours General you should be okay. Wraith could probably get in too, skinny bugger that he is." Wraith chuckled slightly at that. I loosed a breath and nodded.
"Once we get in I should be able to find it, Ziro took me to look at it once as some kind of motivation of loyalty." Tripp snorted,
"Well that worked out well for him." My lips quirked up a little at that but I carried on,
"We have to move quickly. The entire planet is looking for me. Luk can lead us to the facility, Wraith and I will go in and come straight back out, if that's good with you?" I looked at him and he nodded, "great. If you are all sure about this then you need to pack up and get ready to leave. Luk, Wraith and I will get back as fast as possible and then we leave and we don't look back. We find somewhere in the Outer Rim to settle and then we can get to work with finding more clones." Everyone murmured in general agreement. It felt good, I realised, to be doing this kind of thing again, I'd forgotten how much I missed it. I loosed a breath,
"We leave at dawn." Wraith and Luk both saluted and Tripp stood up,
"It's good to have you back, General." I grinned,
"It's good to be back Tripp."