Dha's Tales

[YoshiRaphElan]

Okay, I have writer's block for my previous story, so while I figure those out enjoy the shorts about my Mandalorian bounty hunter, Dha.

 

Story 1: Blood

 

Dha sat straight up in bed and pulled his blaster from under his pillow. Glancing around the room, he saw nothing, but his Zabrak senses told him that someone was in the ship that shouldn't be. Maybe he'd heard something...

 

Beside him, Mako stirred and pulled out her own blaster, tossing him a questioning look. Dha placed a finger over his lips and motioned at the door with his head. She nodded, and the two of them snuck into the hall. Raising his blaster, Dha went first, with Mako trailing behind.

 

They had entered the cargo hold when he heard someone moving behind them.

 

"Don't move," a familiar voice said.

 

"Gault," he said, "it's me."

 

"You heard it too?" the Devaronian asked.

 

Dha nodded, and Gault stood beside Mako. Together, the three entered the next room. A blaster bolt whizzed by Dha's head, and he ducked down. In the red flash, he'd seen the shooter. A shooter wearing Mandalorian armor. And he'd seen something else, too.

 

Torian was behind the shooter.

 

Jumping forward, Dha distracted the other Mandalorian, while Torian came in, electrostaff swinging. The staff hit the Mandalorian in the kneecaps, and the blue-armored being gasped and fell to the ground. Neither Dha nor Torian would kill a fellow Mandalorian, not until they had answers.

 

"Mako," Dha said, "hit the lights."

 

Mako nodded. When the lights came on, Dha removed the Mandalorian's helmet. The figure underneath looked familiar. He had wheat-colored hair and piercing blue eyes, and the angle of his face....

 

"Who are you?" Dha demanded.

 

"I'm Riok Blood," the man said. "You killed my father."

 

"Tarro Blood," Mako snarled.

 

She stepped forward and pointed her blaster at Riok's head. Dha held his hand up, signaling her to stop. She gave him a confused look.

 

"Blood killed Braden and Jory," she said.

 

"The actions of the father are not those of the son," Dha said.

 

She nodded. Dha turned to the Mandalorian again. There was a clatter, and a frazzled Jawa ran into the room, blaster pistol in hand, mumbling in his own language about Mandalorians and noise.

 

Dha chuckled. “It’s okay, Blizz. Go back to bed.”

 

Blizz muttered and walked back down the hall. A moment later there was the sound of rumbling, and Skadge stormed into the room clad only in boxers.

 

“What’s going on?” he bellowed at the top of his lungs. “I’m trying to sleep!”

 

“We had an intruder,” Dha said. He had no patience for Skadge. “Go back to bed. Now.”

 

“You killed my father, scum,” Riok snarled. “He was teaching me to be a Mandalorian. He was teaching me to hunt. To be a warrior.”

 

“Your father,” Torian said. “I heard of him. He was not a true Mandalorian. Not like others I’ve known.”

 

“Take that back!” Blood roared.

 

“Calm down, kid,” Dha said. “I’m not going to kill you, because I don’t kill my own kind unless they give me reason. You haven’t.”

 

“I’m nothing now,” Blood hissed. “No one to teach me the ways of the Mandalorians…I’m useless.”

 

Dha considered. “Maybe not.”

 

* * *

 

In the jungles of Dromund Kaas, Ceta Farr looked up as the two figures entered the camp. Both wore armor similar to hers. Mandalorian armor.

 

“Welcome, vode,” she said. “I’m Ceta Farr.”

 

“We’ve met,” the larger one said. “I am Dha. We met a few years back here on Dromund Kaas. I was an initiate in your…order.”

 

Ceta Farr nodded. Although Mandalorian, she was also a secret member of the Revanite order. She also remembered Dha.

 

“Welcome back, then,” she said. “Who is this?”

 

“His name is Riok Blood,” Dha said. “I killed his father. He has no one to train him as a Mandalorian.”

 

“I will take him,” Ceta Farr said. “We will welcome him into Clan Farr.”

 

Dha nodded and activated his jetpack, returning to his ship.

 

“Welcome, Riok Blood,” she said. “Your training begins.”

[Tatile]

From what I could gather about Tarro Blood (mind that I am terrible at guessing ages in real life, let alone in a video game) he was comparatively young, so Riok's got to be just a kid. I think Dha needs to give his ship's security a once over if some baby Mandalorian can break in.

[YoshiRaphElan]

Just an FYI, but Mandalorians typically marry young (usually by sixteen). There are some exceptions, but hey, it's tradition that a Mandalorian is an adult by thirteen.

[YoshiRaphElan]

Story 2: Remembering

 

In his dreams, Dha remembered. The Jedi Padawan was in front of him, Mako beside him. The Padawan was so young…so young.

 

Like Mesh.

 

Dha shot up and looked around. His sheets were soaked with sweat, and the name weighed heavily in his mind.

 

Mesh.

 

“You okay?” Mako asked.

 

Dha looked over. She did not look bleary-eyed. She must have been awake for some time.

 

“Uh, fine,” he said.

 

“Who is Mesh?” she continued. “You whispered that name a lot.”

 

“You really want to know?”

 

Mako nodded, so he told her.

 

* * *

 

Approximately six months BTC

 

Fourteen-year-old Dha worked in the field owned by his father, who was a Mandalorian, and one of the closest guardians of Mandalore.

 

However, his father was not only a warrior but also a farmer. Along with his wife and three children, Dha’s father owned a large portion of land on Mandalore’s moon.

 

Suddenly, Dha smelled smoke. Farming forgotten, he threw his tool to the ground and pulled a blaster from his pocket. He found his father and mother in a nearby field, each wielding a blaster and firing at someone unseen in the fields.

 

“Dha!” called his father. “Get back to the house! Warn your brother!”

 

Although Mandalorian tradition stated that one left the home and married at sixteen, Dha’s brother Prudii was already nineteen, and had yet to leave home. This was partially because of the war between the Republic and Empire.

 

Dha nodded and ran as fast as his legs would carry him. He reached their homestead in minutes. Prudii apparently already knew.

 

Wielding a blaster in each hand, Dha’s brother stood on the porch, mowing down men in dark gray armor. With a start, Dha recognized them. Imperial soldiers!

 

“Dha!” Prudii called. “Get Mesh out of here!”

 

Their four-year-old sister, Mesh was likely inside the house, huddled in fear. Dha heard the snap of a lightsaber igniting, and ran to the house, spurred on by surprise and worry.

 

Sith?

 

Grabbing Mesh, Dha ran out the back door, holding tightly to his blaster. Suddenly, a yellow lightsaber swept at him, and Dha barely avoided the blow. Firing his blaster, he caught the swinger in the chest.

 

Jedi?

 

Dha took Mesh to their neighbor’s house and then ran back home. He was almost there when he saw the house explode. Fear ripped into his chest, and he ducked into the fields.

 

What he saw made his throat catch. His mother and father lay side by side, lightsaber cuts on their chests. But tears would not come. Not now.

 

Sneaking forward, Dha watched the scene playing out before him. A dark-masked Sith Lord stood before a prisoner he could not see.

 

“Oh, these are not real Jedi,” the Sith was saying. “At least, not anymore, you see. They are rogues. They left their Order to join our Empire.”

 

“Why…attack us?” the prisoner asked.

 

Prudii?

 

“Someone within your ranks allowed us access to Mandalorian space,” the Sith said.

 

“Sir,” a soldier called. “We detect two life forms in the house. The explosion did not kill them, but they are weak.”

 

“I see. Kill them.”

 

Life forms? Who could be in there?

 

“No!” Prudii cried. “Dha! Mesh!”

 

The Sith Lord walked away, and two troopers torched the house while two more held Prudii down. But the older brother would have none of it. He broke from the hold and killed one of his guards, then the other.

 

Dha didn’t wait to see what happened. He ran back for their neighbor’s house, to get Mesh away. But it was too late. The soldiers had already advanced on the other house.

 

“No,” Dha said.

 

He could only watch as the house holding his little sister burnt to the ground.

 

* * *

 

The Present

 

Tears welled in Mako’s eyes.

 

“What happened?” she asked.

 

“Prudii…he’s alive. In fact, he’s a major in Republic Special Forces, last time I checked. Havoc Squad, I think.”

 

“And…Mesh?”

 

“Never confirmed. The warriors Mandalore sent later only found two corpses in the house, neither a Zabrak child.”

 

“So she’s alive?”

 

“Maybe. One of the neighbors could have taken her away, gotten her offworld. They could have tried and been shot, or Mesh could have been captured. I don’t know.”

 

“If she’s alive,” Mako promised, “we will find her.”