Heart of Mandalore Chapter 10

When Bo-Katan and Ursa arrived at the camp, they told them about the news. They agreed that they should get some rest, and head out for the smoke first thing in the morning.

Bo-Katan couldn’t sleep. After all, this was her chance to end Mandalorian terrorism, her chance to do something right, and her revenge. Death Watch took everything from her, her freedom, her sister, her home, and nearly her life several times. She kept thinking angry thoughts, like what she would to Gar Saxon when she captured him, how she would execute the remains of Death Watch, if she will use the Darksaber to slice him, to slice them for that matter. She couldn’t fall asleep. She knew that if she was going to have the strength that she needed the next day to lead her fellow Mandalorians, her friends to fight, she needed the energy to lead, to carry some of their burdens. She was used to doing that all her life, carrying other people’s weight on her shoulders. It was their mistake. It only made her stronger, angrier, bloodthirster. She is the woman she is now because of those people. Thanks to the ones that she used to cry over, the ones that would have her, a 10-year-old girl, carry 50 pounds of supplies on her shoulders.

Her shoulders would hurt after that. They would ache, and she would cry, cry not just because of the pain, but of the loss of her mother and father the previous 2 years. Her father 2 years ago, and her father, who would always carry some of that weight, 15-20 pounds someday, depending on how much he was carrying, died just 9 weeks ago.

Her sister was chosen by the royalties to be the next Duchess. Bo, her mother, and her father were treated like peasants, as were everybody that wasn’t at a royalty standard, had to carry supplies, the royalties 100-pound bag, their bags, and their armor. The ¨peasants¨ were given cheap, heavy armor, that only slowed them down. The royalties got the beskar for their armor. Bo-Katan always dreamed of having beskar armor. Somedays, Satine would let Bo-Katan wear her armor. Satine would get slapped, but she didn’t care. It was against the rules for her to give Bo her armor, even if it was just for 30 minutes. She was treated harshly, even with the comfort of her sister, she was always angry, mad, and wanted revenge. That’s probably why her sister was soft, wanted Mandalore to be peaceful, and Bo-Katan wanted it to be a planet of warriors.

Gar Saxon also had that goal but was waging war on Mandalore to accomplish it. Bo-Katan wasn’t willing to go that far to have that happen. She wanted peace, world peace, inner peace for herself, peace to all Mandalorians, but as long as Death Watch remains out there, she can't accomplish that goal.

Bo-Katan finally fell asleep dreaming bad memories, her life when she was a child, her time at Death Watch, her seeing her sister’s cold lifeless body. All these things.

¨Bo, Bo, wake up,¨ Ursa whispered.

¨What, huh? What’s going on?¨

¨One of the scouting parties saw some Death Watch Mandalorians heading our way, we’re moving the supplies back to the ship.¨

¨Huh? Well, why didn’t you wake me up before!?¨

¨Because, the job was nearly done, and you needed rest more than anybody.¨

¨How did you know?¨

¨You talk in your sleep.¨

¨Huh, whatever, where are we going?¨

¨To meet the enemy.¨

¨Is anybody staying behind?¨

¨No, but the pilot is on emergency standby in case we run into problems. He will come and pick us up and take us back to Mandalore.¨

Bo-Katan, Ursa, Thes, and her guards walked out to the ridge where Ursa and Bo-Katan scouted the smoke from a fire the other night. They sat to catch their breath but had to continue to move fast and cautiously if they were going to successfully ambush Death Watch. Their plan worked nicely and even nicer with hunting parties out to find them. They would attack from the sides, back, and top. The game plan was simple,

Ursa drops grenades inside the camp

Bo-Katan and a guard attacks from the back

The remaining 4 guards attack from the sides

They capture Gar Saxon and put an end to Death Watch.

That was the plan. Maybe, just maybe they could pull it off, and rid the galaxy of Death Watch Mandalorians. Just maybe they could.

They continued to walk farther towards the smoke. It was near midnight now, and they all agreed that they would take turns taking watch by 2 until the morning so that they could get some sleep.

Bo-Katan was woken up suddenly and saw a Death Watch Mandalorian pointing his gun at her head.

¨Hands up.¨