Chapter 341 - A Favour For An Old Friend

Sitting on her throne, Satine Kryze looked at the hologram projections before her. It showed several different pieces of information, from numbers, to texts, videos, and pictures. The most eye-catching were the ones of twenty-seven Death Watch members dead on the floor.

She frowned deeply, uneasy. Pre Vizsla and his terrorist organization had many enemies, that's for sure, but none who could do that. Instinctively, her thoughts drifted towards the Jedi Order, but she dismissed them. Almost all the bodies had laser marks, and exceptionally accurate ones on top of that. Only three or four had been killed by a blade, but not a lightsaber.

Still, a little voice inside her head told her the Republic had something to do with this. Having learned to trust the voice, she called an old acquaintance.

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General Kenobi was calmly meditating when his comlink bipped. At first, he ignored it, but when it continued to make noise, he used the Force to pull it over. When he saw who it was, he raised an eyebrow surprised, and transferred it to his hologram projector.

A beautiful woman, with blonde hair, and a giant crown, appeared. She had an angry frown on her face, which eased a little when she saw him.

"Satine. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"It's good to see you too, Obi-Wan. I have something to ask, although I'm not sure you can answer it."

Once again, the Jedi raised an eyebrow in surprise. He had spent years without talking to Satine, but their latest adventures had brought them closer together once more. Still, it wasn't quite normal for her to ask something out of the blue.

"What is it?"

The Mandalorian queen quickly resumed everything that happened, and after that stared intensely at General Kenobi. He had a deep frown on his face, and she knew him well enough to understand the Jedi was organizing his thoughts.

"You know who they are, don't you? Are they Jedis?"

"No... I didn't know of this until you told me, which means this mission was kept a secret even from the Jedi Council. Probably only Master Yoda and Master Windu know about it..."

"And?"

"You said there weren't any casualties amongst those mysterious attackers, right?"

"Yes. They wouldn't have had time to take away the bodies before my people arrived. Which makes it all more impressive, and scary. Who are they, Obi?"

General Kenobi was quiet for a few minutes, and then sighed. He shouldn't tell her that, but instead deny any knowledge of it. However, he and Satine were very close friends, and had been... Something else, when they were younger.

"Satine, listen to me. You can't share this information with anyone, understood? The less you know about them, the better."

"As long is it doesn't affect the neutrality of Mandalore, I won't tell anyone, I swear."

The Jedi nodded, and transferred some files to her. They contained a few pictures and lines of text, barely enough to show the names of the clones.

"I can't be certain, but I only know one group of people in the entire Republic who can attack elite Mandalorian warriors, and remain unscathed."

"How do you know they weren't injured? As much as I hate to admit it, Vizsla's lackeys are very skilled. They wouldn't go down without a fight. Besides, my spies tell me Vizsla himself was there. You experienced by yourself how dangerous he is."

"That's not the point, Satine. All I can tell you is that only Hell Squad could be behind that, unless this attack has nothing to do with the Republic, what I doubt. But you don't need to worry. When Dageer has a mission, he focuses solely on it. Your people won't be affected, only Death Watch. If their target is Pre Vizsla, then congratulations, you just lost a big source of worry."

The woman got angry at General Kenobi, thinking he was joking about a big problem of hers. However, when she paid attention, she discovered that his expression was dead serious.

"You... You aren't lying, are you? You really believe they can do that. Why?"

"Because I know Hell Squad better than most. The only way to win against them is with numbers or a Force user. Death Watch has neither of those."

...

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, General Kenobi managed to convince Satine not to dwell on the subject, and halt the investigations about Hell Squad and Ragout. That would grant them an easier time leaving Mandalore.

He was sure Ragout was with the troopers, although he didn't tell her that. One thing was a group of clones, while an entirely different one was a Jedi. Even with their relationship, he wouldn't have managed to control her anger if she got to know about it.

He tried to resume his meditation, but his thoughts kept going back to what Satine told him. Usually, he wouldn't have cared much, since he couldn't possibly know about everything that happened in a war that spammed the entire galaxy. However, maybe because Mandalore held a special significance to him, he couldn't help but feel worried. This was too serious for General Yoda and General Windu to decide on their own, without consulting the Jedi Council. He felt like this, like many other things in the Clone Wars, had been done without their knowledge. Slowly but surely, the Jedi Order was losing control of the war. Or, maybe, they never had it to start with.

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"What is our next step, general?"

"What do you mean? We completed the mission, didn't we?"

"But..."

"Don't let this become personal, Tech. Pre Vizsla was never our target. Remember that."

Hell Squad was back to their 'base', talking to Ragout. The Jedi was leaning against a wall, using the Force to make three helmets float around. Meanwhile, the clones were cleaning their weapons, sleeping, or eating. There was none of the discipline they should have shown, but they were in an unusual situation. Besides, it was only Ragout.

"Are you sure about that, sir? We could end a future problem right here, right now."

The Togruta nodded, acknowledging what Dageer said. Still, he was set on his decision of leaving Mandalore.

"Better not to push our luck. It will take time to find Vizsla again, especially now that he is scared. No... We are leaving."

The clones shrugged. It didn't really matter for them. Besides, covert missions like that weren't really their style. Hell Squad much preferred a real battlefield, where all your worries were on the enemy in front of you, and not if you were going to be stabbed in the back.

...

Only four days later they managed to leave Mandalorian unnoticed, hiding in a cargo ship directed towards Askok. There, they received orders to meet the padawan Caleb Dume on his cruiser, The Uncontested. Apparently, the soon to be Jedi would give them their new mission.

Like any other Venator-class Star Destroyer, The Uncontested was armed to the teeth, so even if it was all by itself on the Outer Rim, no outlaw dared to attack it.

"Brain, Tech, Metal, go get our armors. They should have been loaded on the ship in Coruscant. Dab, Three-four, Cell, the routine. Dageer, with me. Let's meet Dume."

"Understood."

"Yes, sir."