Chapter Text
Chapter 5
This takes place after the Council Meeting in Chapter 23 / Three months after the Battle of Tython and Clan Fetts’ return to the Mando’ade.
Jango watched the teens hurry out of the room, their heads still together over the two toddlers, talking in hushed comments, and found himself smiling at them. A shift from the corner of his eye, black armor and grey trim staring him down from near the door, and his good mood evaporated. Morut be Tribe , he mentally steeled himself as the Protector joined him and they both waited. It was obvious they were waiting for me and while he wasn’t interested in another round of questioning his motives and past, he also knew it wasn’t an option to skip this. The boy, the Mand’alor , had flagrantly called out his allegiance for Jango and his ad’ike . While the Ha’at Mando’ade had been forgiven and welcomed back into the Mando’ad, Jango understood their concern for the boy and his reputation.
Straightening up and throwing his shoulders back he made his way to the pair. “Protector Rau,” he gave a sharp nod. “ Morut be Tribe ,” he looked between them and settled back in his heels. He may not want to do this but he would, but nothing said he had to make it easy.
Rau gave a heavy sigh, whipped off her helmet, and stared back at Jango with an unimpressed lift of her eyebrow. With a look to Morut who stood silent beside her and then shaking her head, “we wanted to talk. Do you have time? We heard you tell the ade you needed to be elsewhere. We can talk later if you’d rather,” Rau gave a tilt of her head to him in understanding.
Jango felt a small bit of surprise at that but wanted this done and over with. “No, it can wait for now. Simply some follow up and a check in with the others,” he gave a nonchalant shrug to his shoulders.
Morut shifted forward then, “we’ll talk in the office then. Follow us,” his voice though flat with the vocoder wasn’t hostile as he spun towards the door and headed down the hallway.
He stepped forward and while there was a momentary itch at having someone unfamiliar at his back, he breathed through it and followed. He found his thoughts drifting back to the meeting, Awaud’s confrontation, and Jango rehashed the last part of it over and over. The Governor had seemed apologetic but Awaud had only reluctantly backed down. It was a surprising twist to him, he had expected the pair to stay united in their disgust for him and his ade . And while the rest of the Council had turned against Awaud over it that was most likely because children were the future and any decent Mando’ade knew that. he could easily see them siding more with the protection of children than supporting him specifically. And he could understand that as well.
As they entered the office tucked into a side hallway deep in and under the Great Hall. Jango had been here once before but it was a short visit to sign papers and more to make sure the Jetti with him knew where to go and what to expect while they stayed with him on the planet. Now he looked around and saw the table had a couple more chairs and some pads scattered on it, and an obvious command post feel to it. Taking the chair against the back wall he settled in with a casual sprawl, placing his helmet to his left side on the table and eyed the two. They were perhaps some of the most powerful people on the Council, though theirs was a more quiet power. They were the ones who watched the Mand’alor’s back, took care of problems before they could become Problems, and acted on the Will of the Mand’alor . Finding himself here and now, especially right after that tumultuous meeting made him uneasy and unsure, most likely exactly what the pair wanted. So he kept his peace and waited for them to speak. After all, he was no youngling caught with their hand in the uj'alayi pan.
Unsurprisingly it was Rau who broke first, giving a disgusted huff. She pulled her helmet off and set it on the table to her right and leaned forward. “We’ll be here all day ‘playing Lothcat and rat’ at this point, so I’ll go first.” She leveled a steely glare at him, “do you have concerns about Keldabe?”
Jango sputtered in surprise and all his thoughts scattered with that question, “what? No, nothing in particular. Why?” He could keep the shock out of his voice and wanted to kick himself for letting them rattle him right out the gate.
“In the three months you’ve been here you haven’t gone to Keldabe once. You’ve left the moon a half dozen times, back and forth between Sorgan and here and Sorgan and Concord Dawn but not once have you gone to Keldabe. Why?”
Jango blinked a few times, he hadn’t made any pretense of hiding his movements out of respect for the situation and because he had nothing to hide. But he hadn't thought there was anything suspicious in them either. In a split second, he decided it was better to be open than let any underlying suspicion continue, “I haven’t gone there cause there are too many ghosts I’m not ready to face yet.” He gave an open spread of his hands to indicate he wasn’t hiding anything. Looking at Rau he could see that she still wasn’t sure about that, dropping his hand's palm down to the table he looked towards the Tribesman. He was a blank cipher, obviously more than aware that Mando’s can easily read each other no matter if they are in their armor or not. And he was very, very , good at being still and quiet. Most likely he had been a Beroya and knowing the esteem of Tribe Beroya, Jango could see this was one of their best. Not surprising then that he headed the Mand’alor’s security, this had been no grace and favor appointment.
Shaking his head and pulling himself back to the moment, “I can’t. You said it yourself, the compound looks as though it was sealed in time, yeah?” Rau gave a slow nod in agreement. “ Jas’buir loved that place. It was his, and then it, it was mine but,” he trailed off before clearing his throat. “I need to watch my anger and be aware of what triggers the darkness still in me. That, that place is a trigger,” he said simply and then let himself breathe. The memory of a strong, steady presence at his side. Windu bracing his mind like a wall against the rising rage and cold fury that hovered always in the back of his mind. The comfort of that memory settling over his shoulders and just letting himself breathe. His guilt over the Sith's manipulation and abandoning his duties to his people, were an ever present weight that could in the smallest of moments still reach up to tug at him, to try to pull him back into the dark times again. Jas’buir was definitely another one of those triggers of his past and that was why he stayed away. No matter how much he longed to go back, to see the halls Jas’buir once walked (with him) and the chairs he settled in to read one of his favorite histories (to him no matter how much he protested). No matter how much he wanted to show his ad’ika where they came from and how very much they had once been loved, it just hurt too much. It would drive that pain and anger right back into his heart all over again and Jango didn’t want to lose himself in that, there was so much to be done and none of it could be done in the dark anger he had clawed out of.
Forcing himself to go still and quiet, not wanting to think too much about those thoughts, at least not here with these strangers Jango stares back at them. Jango can sense that they are considering him and what he has said as the silence grows. He has to fight himself not to simply lash out at the pair, old habits die hard after all but finally, after several heartbeats, the tension seems to crest and Jango wonders what it is that they are truly looking for. Deciding to see if he can get a bit more from them he tries the surprise questioning tactic for himself. “I expect you to dig deep into my movements,” he casually states. “As you should, of course, you are the powerbrokers of this operation.” He watches the two as both go unnaturally still and fights the smirk that wants to grow on his lips. “But tell me, who truly pulls the strings here? I can’t think that you as a buir are all that comfortable letting the boy carry the burdens of sending our people out to die.”
Morut actually settles back in his chair at that, giving that Mando helmet tilt that shows he is rolling his eyes, “the Mand’alor has made many hard calls before you arrived, Alor Fett. This is nothing new to him. He is strong and he has our full support.”
Jango sighs and shakes his head. “He’s a kid, he shouldn't have to make these calls.”
“Do you not support our Mand’alor ? Do you think you’d be better suited for this?” Rau is giving him a cold and dark look.
Jango frowns. “No, I’m not saying he isn’t capable. He’s a child though and I’ve had a very rude awakening recently. I’m not comfortable with forcing children into these roles, it’s wrong.” Jango felt the weight of his guilt and bad decisions settle over his shoulders. There was so much that he still hadn’t even realized he had to atone for, too much it felt like in moments like this.
Morut sighs. “Look we know you have a lot of issues to sort out. And I believe that your interests don’t lie in taking the title. More than that Din, believes in you,” The older beroya gives him a significant look through his visor. “But this is the path he has chosen to walk. He,” Morut pauses. “I speak to you as one buir to another,” Morut leaned forward locking eyes with Jango through his visor. “He has been chosen to carry this weight and he has done so for the last nearly four years with grace and strength that we all can only hope to emulate. The Mand’alor is my child. And yes it is hard to see him pushed into that position of choosing who will go out and fight. Knowing that they might not return. But he has done so over and over since stepping up and helping us to all see the light.”
Morut looked to Rau for a moment and then back to Jango, “He is a special ad , he has the blessing of the Ka’ra . I do not say that lightly, Jango Fett. I mean that factually.” Morut breathed in deeply and let out a heavy gust of air. “He carries with him not only the Dha’kad and all the responsibilities it includes but he carries all the memories of a life, one of great loss and sorrow. It is that life that he has sworn to see not repeated. He grieves not just his personal losses but all of the Mando’ade and sees it as his responsibility to keep us from repeating the mistakes that led to his heartbreaks. Do you understand what I am saying?” Morut held his gaze, the intensity of belief and truth pouring out of him at Jango.
“I have heard this before. Bralor told me of his vision and his belief that he lived a life where Mandalore and its people were lost.”
Morut gave another sigh, “yet you don’t believe it.” Sitting back he shook his head sadly. “Alright then if you cannot believe that he lived that life and knows the devastation we could all bring upon ourselves then at least accept it as the vision of what could have been.” Morut looked away at that, giving Jango time to think about what he had said he supposed.
It wasn’t that he didn’t necessarily believe in the Mand’alor . There were too many little things that had happened after all that made no sense unless he believed. His ad , his Bo’ika , knowing the boy and the boy knowing him. The fact that Bralor had come to him, helped him break the chains of the Sith. Then helped to free his ad’ike of those chains as well because she believed Djarin had a vision. No, she believed he had returned to us after living that life, a whisper in the back of his mind stated. But time travel? That seemed too much. Visions, as much Force osik as that was, still seemed easier for him to grasp.
Rubbing his hands over his face roughly several times Jango tried to simply have that faith, that belief that the Manda , the Ka’ra had sent this boy back to save them. To save him. It made the odd fluttering start up in his chest and the itch in the back of his mind flare wildly. His breath caught tight in his throat. He startled at the feel of a strong hand on his shoulder. “Breath Jango, slowly,” a deep rumble said next to him. “That’s it slow in. Now hold. And slow out,” the rumble guided him through several rounds of breathing until finally he blinked and realized he was in a chair.
“You’re in the Security Sector of the Great Hall,” the deep voice slowly confused. “You are safe and among friends, Jango Fett.”
Jango blinked several times, repeating the words over and over in his mind as he just simply breathed. He realized then that Morut was crouched in front of him, the Tribesman’s hand in his shoulder a warm form weight anchoring him to the chair and the moment. Nodding slowly he opened his mouth to speak but the lump in his throat was too great. It took a few coughs to finally get it out and he brought his hands to his face as a wave of exhaustion rolled over him.
The gentle pat of a hand on his other shoulder brought him upright and he dropped his hands to see a glass in front of him. “Drink up you need it,” Rau said kindly. Taking the glass he finished it before he realized and taking a deep breath realized he felt better as well. With a suspicious glance down at the glass and then back up at Rau, he cocked his brow in silent question.
“Nothing more than water,” the Protector laughed, though without any malice or spite. “You are not the first to have a panic attack in our presence. We have seen the benefits of quiet and a simple drink of water before.” She gave a small shrug of her shoulder before taking the glass and refilling it. Setting it back down in front of him, “I will say this, don’t think too hard on, well whatever it was you were thinking on there. It is not disloyal to simply take it all as a vision.”
Jango turned his gaze on Morut, “and you? One buir to another, will there be nothing more said if I simply cannot accept it as anything more than a vision?” Jango felt that small flutter in his chest but then ruthlessly pushed it back, that contemplation could happen some other day, or never frankly.
Morut leaned slightly towards him, “I will not let anyone stand in his way. He has been blessed by the Ka’ra to lead us to safety and stability and he has done so quite admirably so far. If all that you can accept is that he had a vision and chose to lead us based on that, then no I have no issue with your allegiance Fett. Can you give that allegiance? Or do you have doubts about his conviction and loyalty to all Mando’ade ?”
Jango is shocked into silence for a long moment. Shaking his head, “no I don’t doubt his conviction or his loyalty. I know however what it is to carry your people on your shoulders when only just out of my verd’goten . It is a heavy enough burden, to do so before that, as well as to see what has come of all our unnecessary warring,” he shook his head sadly. “I just don’t like it, is all.”
Morut snorts, “join the club. But it is what has been set before us all.”
Jango straightens up slightly, “This is the Way.”
‘This is the Way’ , the pair repeat back.
There was still something though, something prickling at the back of his mind as he watched them across the table. “So what is it that still has you so rattled?” Jango suddenly asks.
Rau gives a pointed look to Morut and the pair share a frankly impressive silent conversation for the fact one was in a helmet, after several long moments Rau finally huffs out a breath. “There have been some unusual movement the last six months in and around Keldabe. Nothing to truly point at with any kind of certainty. Only the hunch that something is being missed.”
Rau shifts and opens the holoprojector, her fingers gliding over her pad a moment before she swipes up, and now in the soft blue light is a string of large ariel reconnaissance photos projected above them. They each show odd shadows and faint marks on the desert floor not far from the domed city. Sliding across her pad again the images begin to grow and shift through time, a small data stamp at the top of each image as the last several months smoothly glide past.
Jango studies it for a long moment then with a quick gesture of his hand, asks and then takes control of the projection. Starting back at the beginning he once more scrolls through the images before suddenly pausing, pinching, and pulling at it as the large projections begin moving out to give a more detailed and zoomed in picture of the desert floor. Pausing he looks again at it for several moments and quickly starts dragging the image in different directions as he stands and moved closer to the projection. Finally, Jango settles in on a section between Keldabe and Sundari and grunts lowly.
Morut watching closely gives a quick glance to Rau who shakes her head sharply, before looking back at Jango, “was is it? What are you seeing?”
Tapping at the screen for a moment more Jango resets the images to now play the last year of this particular area between the two cities. As it rolls it shows the definitive movement of something across the desert floor, this was not natural and it was large.
Jango crosses his arms over his chest with a disgruntled hum, “I don’t know what is going on there for sure but something is. This isn’t normal desert traffic, ships or even general smuggling operations between the cities,” Jango growls.
Morut taps long scarred fingers against his kar’ta beskar in silent contemplation at the looped images before giving a slow nod of agreement. Looking up at Rau he gives a slight tilt of his head and the Protector gives a sharp nod in return. “We will see to this, Alor Fett. Thank you for your assistance.”
Jango stares between the two for a moment before giving a huff of frustration. “If you need some trackers, hunters who aren’t familiar to anyone you know where to come.”
Rau nods but stands silently next to Morut.
“Look I’m not asking to be let in on secrets all of a sudden,” Jango huffs angrily as he drops his arms from his chest. “I’m just saying fresh eyes can be helpful and I have some of the best. As we all just discussed in the Council.” When no response comes he shakes his head. There’s the Jedi too. They would help too.”
Morut scoffs, “you trust them?”
Jango looks confused. “The Mand’alor does. But yes, I do.”
Morut bled tension, “you were not there in the Temple that day. They were arrogant fools. Who we proved wrong, by the way. And their treatment of my ade was unacceptable,” He growls angrily.
Jango nods slowly. “Much had happened with the Mando’ade and the Jettise . There has long been animosity and rightly so I think. But that is the past. It needs to be the past,” Jango is uneasy but steadfast, determination clear on his face. “The Mand’alor trusts them and has taken one of them to be his ad’ika . It is the least we can do to put aside the past and see those here, among us, and supporting us, as trustworthy,” Jango finishes with a sharp nod to himself.
Morut is silent a long moment and stands, reaching out his arm to the man, indicating clearly he wishes to give a warriors shake. When Jango grasps back, Morut gives a happy hum. “You are a good man, Jango Fett, Clan Mereel, House Mereel,” his voice warm with conviction. “It is not easy to put the darkest and most painful parts of our lives aside for the greater good. I know it is not easy for me,” he tightens the grip on Jango’s arm. “To look past old grievances and losses, but I do so that my ad’ike can see me in a better light, to be the model that they deserve. And you as well have set aside your losses and tragedies inflicted upon you for your ad’ika and your people. I am honored to stand at your side in battle and in Council,” the dark helmet bowed deeply before he stepped back and let go of the other man’s arm.
Jango stared stunned before bringing his fist up and tapping his kar’ta beskar with a sharp ring in the silence. “I too am honored to walk beside you in battle and Council.”
Rau smirked as she looked between them, “and now that we have settled that. As well as your loyalty, perhaps we can plan a victory as well as a battle?”