Private The Devil Met The Pope

[Atin Tracinya]

Ukatis was more rubble than civilization now. If there was one thing that the Mandalorians did well, it was war. Atin knew this well, it was a fact that had kept him alive for years. It was the first time he saw what that really meant though. The first time he saw war. The bombed out buildings, the scorch marks left behind by blasters pockmarked almost every surface. The only thing that was missing was the bodies, gathered, carried away and buried already. Atin wondered if his own people who were left behind were given the same courtesies. He hoped so.

He didn't dare ask the soldiers or the Jedi he marched alongside though. He'd done well to keep silent, stay out of trouble so far. Speaking up, he'd learned years ago, meant pain and punishment. Instead he watched them carefully. His HUD no longer showed them with red arrows above their heads, but rather the green circles to indicate friendlies. Most of the soldiers moved purposefully, but some lagged behind, staggered. Despite the Alliance's best efforts, relief efforts weren't perfect, and some still went without. Worse still, many were still missing.

And that's what brought the small complement under the command of the Jedi as they delved deep into the carcass of a Ukatian city.

When Atin had first been assigned to the assist the unit, his armor and hunter's tech expected to help locate those who were still lost or trapped, he'd noticed the way they spoke about the Jedi with an air of reverence. It was unlike the way he'd seen others speak of Master San Tekka, who was a well respected Jedi in his own right, based on what Atin had gathered so far. These soldiers though, they regard her like some kind of battle-spirit. 'The Sword' they'd called her in quiet whispers.

Looking at her now, Atin was inclined to give the woman a similar sense of regard. She moved with a sense of purpose. Grace, almost, not a movement wasted. A trio of thin lines scarred her face, over her eye. Animal was Atin's guess, but she had a look in her eye that said she'd done more than hunt animals for food or sport. She'd seen death, and dealt it. These were the Jedi the Mando'ade of old hated, the ones they'd tentatively broke bread with. And now they warred with.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Ukatis

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Lightsabers
Tag: Atin Tracinya

Valery let out a soft sigh.

It was perhaps a strange thing, but being involved in relief work was sometimes more exhausting than the battles that created these ruins. It was a direct confrontation with the horrors of war, but without any adrenaline or distraction from savage enemies to keep the mind from overthinking. Her own Padawan came from this world, and while many of its traditions were barbaric by most other modern standards, a lot of innocent people had still lost their lives.

Each ruined home was another broken family to Valery, and all she could think about was her own. Her oldest daughter had once lost her home when the Maw invaded as well, so she knew how devastating this was.

But within all of this chaos, there was some light as well.

Valery's fiery gaze shifted to Atin Tracinya , who had been assigned to help the unit recover as much as they could on Ukatis. His story was interesting to her, and she wanted to learn more about. So, as soon as they had time for a small break, the Jedi Master made her approach and dipped her head. "Mr. Tracinya, was it?" Valery began with a polite smile.

"What are your thoughts on helping out here so far?"

 

[Atin Tracinya]

The stop was sudden, but desperately needed. Some of the men clearly had not been fed enough in recent days, and they suffered now as they scoured the broken city for more mouths to feed. In truth, Atin was not much better. He hid it well enough, but he was just as grateful when the order came down to rest. Wearied muscles pleaded with him to just let them give out and collapse against a wall, but the Mandalorian forced himself into a slow, easy descent onto some bit of rubble, where he let his arms prop himself up on his knees. Only the Jedi seemed entirely unaffected, either by virtue of real meals, or some Force-blessed magic Atin couldn't hope to comprehend.

Either way, she strode towards him.

And instinctual movement, Atin snapped to his feet sliding to the side, back, putting distance between himself and the Jedi, a hand rising to the blaster at his hip before reality caught up to the man. They weren't allies, but he was not her enemy. At least, he wasn't supposed to be. Not now. "Mr. Tracinya, was it?" She said his name with in a calm, pleasant way that made Atin's hairs stand on end. The still-helmeted Mandalorian nodded, slowly, his hand still frozen in place above his blaster. "What are your thoughts on helping out here so far?"

Atin cocked his head to the side at the question, almost like some canine. Behind the mask, his brow furrowed. What were his thoughts? What kind of question was that? What trap was she trying to lay? "I-..." Atin paused at the first syllable, unsure of how to respond. What did he think? "I...think its good. To help these people." They weren't responsible for the deaths of the Mando'ade after all, merely caught in the crossfire. "They're innocent."

Even as he answered Atin tensed, as if expecting some retaliation for answering incorrectly, but the other soldiers stared at him. Some sneered, some looked like they...pitied him? Other seemed simply bewildered.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Ukatis

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Lightsabers
Tag: Atin Tracinya

Valery's demeanor didn't shift, even as Atin's hand hovered just above his weapon. A Jedi could sense lethal intent, and as dangerous as an armored Mandalorian with a blaster was, she felt none of it surrounding his mind. The reaction had been purely instinctual, likely driven by the fact that the Jedi and Mandalorians were at war once again. But as soon as he realized that she wasn't here as his enemy, the atmosphere changed.

Still, his answer suggested some confusion, perhaps concern or maybe she had just caught him at the wrong time. Reactions sparked all around them because of it, but Valery paid no attention to it and offered a soft smile.

"I'm glad to hear that," she said with a dip of her head. "I wasn't here during the battle myself, but my Padawan was born here." She looked around with a slight frown and sighed. "Too many were caught in the crossfire, and even the people who survived are left without their homes and with new scars instead."

Her fiery gaze turned back to Atin and she gestured with her head for him to follow, "Would you walk with me for a moment?"

 

[Atin Tracinya]

Atin was sure that the calm demeanor and generally friendly tone, even as she talked about her padawan's broken homeworld, was meant to be somewhat calming, but it only put him more on edge. It took a conscious effort for Atin to straighten his back and stand normally, allow his hand to fall to his side, twitching to grasp his blaster pistol.

Maybe it was that tension that Atin felt that made him want to bite at the Jedi, tell her that the suffering of Ukatis, of Yhag'dul, of Kiffu could have been avoided if the Alliance hadn't declared a war on the Enclave. That Atin would not be a slave to her Order if they'd left well enough alone instead of meddling in Mandalorian affairs.

But fighting words would earn him nothing, save perhaps pain.

Instead Atin inclined his head, agreeing to walk on weary legs with the Sword, falling into step beside her. "I fought on Yhag'dul," Atin said as soon as they were out of earshot of the other Alliance soldiers. He did not want to risk offending one of them for killing one of their friends or family. "My...friend was here though. On Ukatis." Atin remembered the sharp stabbing pain through his chest he'd felt after he'd sealed Master San Tekka's spacesuit. The flashes of Carden falling from a high window, her jetpack damaged. He'd been unsettled then, but now, he was simply certain. "She died here too."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Ukatis

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Lightsabers
Tag: Atin Tracinya

"I'm sorry for your loss," Valery said with a slight frown, as they walked through what had been a battlefield together. Her eyes shifted from one building to another, but lingered noticeably longer on civilian homes. Not long ago, families would have been there, laughing, playing and spending time together. Now they were empty, and that sight reminded her of the last war again. Of having to put her young daughter on a transport, before leaving her own home to be destroyed as well.

"I myself was on Kiffu, and while I didn't lose anybody I know or love in these battles..." she paused, and stopped for a moment to turn towards him, "I feel like we all lost something here today. A home, a friend, or just the peace we enjoyed for years after the last war ended."

She also saw no way for it to return, not without either side falling apart completely.

"What made you come here to help? If you don't mind me asking."

 

[Darragh Cearmada]

delete me

 

[Atin Tracinya]

"I myself was on Kiffu, and while I didn't lose anybody I know or love in these battles..." she paused, and stopped for a moment to turn towards him, "I feel like we all lost something here today. A home, a friend, or just the peace we enjoyed for years after the last war ended."

The words, their sentiment, were met with silence. No more than a brief, solemn nod from the Mandalorian gave any indication that he'd heard the Jedi's condolences, or accepted them.

Peace. When was the last time Atin had known peace? As a child? A slave, fighting and killing for the entertainment of others? As a bounty-hunter, throwing the worst the galaxy had to offer into the holding cell of his ship or into carbonite? Peace was a thin veil behind which seemed to hide all manner of dark deeds. The Alliance, the Jedi, had they just never bothered to peer behind the curtain? Atin didn't look towards the Jedi, only at whatever lay ahead of them. More rubble. More ruin.

The Jedi asked why Atin had come to help. "Orders," he answered. "Master San Tekka told me to come and help with the relief efforts. I came to help with the relief efforts." Though Atin did not mention that he couldn't shake the feeling his trip to Ukatis was meant to be 'rehabilitating' as well.

The glint of metal peeked from beneath layers of concrete as the pair walked, drawing the Mandalorians attention, enough that he halted to scan it and check that it wasn't some unexploded ordnance. No explosives. Approaching the shining abnormality in the walls of rubble, Atin pulled away the debris revealing the warped and torn form of a door to a refrigeration unit, almost unrecognizable in its current state were it not for the fact it was still attached to the rest of the unit. "Might be something in there still. Not spoiled," Atin suggested. It wouldn't be much, or even enough to make a difference, but a couple of pieces of unspoiled fruit, Atin knew how much that could change things for a starving child. The door though, seemed jammed, it's edges buckled in on itself. They'd have to pry it open somehow.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Ukatis

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Lightsabers
Tag: Atin Tracinya

"He told you to come, and you... listened?" Valery tilted her head in surprise and figured there was quite a story there. Maybe he felt like he owed Zark for some reason? She hadn't been able to read up enough on after-action reports to know, but many of those reports didn't exist yet either. These battles were still fresh on people's minds, and it would take time before anything too official reached her office.

So, she relied on hearing it straight from one side of the source.

Meanwhile, she followed after him and stopped when she spotted the object within the rubble as well. With a bit of digging, it was revealed to be a refrigerator, and he figured it might offer some food for survivors, "It has been without power for a little bit," Valery said, but refrigerators kept their cold decently well.

"Stand back," Valery then said, as she crouched down and touched the hinges with her fingers. The metal instantly began to crack, and shattered into tiny little fragments. The door itself was still a little stuck because of how it had deformed within the frame, but she didn't want to shatter it, just in case the debris would fall on otherwise useful food.

"Now we should be able to force it out."

 

[Atin Tracinya]

As the Jedi expressed her surprise at the fact that Atin had actually followed orders, he stared at her blankly. Even though she probably could not tell that he was doing so from behind the helmet, his unnatural stillness might have. Jedi really did seem to have a problem with insubordination, if even one of their most respected members seemed so surprised. But, maybe she also didn't understand Atin's situation. How it wasn't entirely willful. "On Yhag'dul, your Master San Tekka saved my life, killing an exogorth. By Creed, I owe him the oya'la entye." Atin explained, his voice almost grave. "In Basic, a life-debt. Although, a more accurate translation would be a living debt. Until my death, I will protect him, and act upon his will so long as it does not require me to violate our Creed. That, or he releases from my service once I've repaid him." Not that Atin expected that to happen any time soon, if ever.

The hinges cracked, shattered, and crumbled to dust, and Atin wondered a moment what a power like that might do a being's flesh. If Jedi could just kill with a touch like that instead of fighting and sending good soldiers to their deaths. They did not seem the type to sacrifice lives unnecessarily though, so Atin decided he was most likely safe from being disintegrated. "Now we should be able to force it out," the Jedi said. This time it was her turn to stand back, and Atin gestured for her to do so, taking several steps back himself.

Digging his boots into the dirt, Atin thrust his gauntleted arm forward, a small harpoon firing at the fridge door and piercing it with a metallic thud. Atin pulled, grunting with effort, and with a little help from the thrust of his booster packs, the door came free, flying into the air and hitting the dirt. "Were it not for the oya'la entye," Atin admitted as he walked up to the now open fridge and began to rummage around, "I'd still be with the Enclave shooting at you and yours." There was less bitterness in his voice than even he might've expected. Either way he'd just be following someone else's orders. If he'd had it his way, he and Carden would've been hunting another mark across the galaxy, holed up on one of their ships, eating freeze dried meals while she shouted at him for putting his boots on the dash again. No chance of that happening now though.

Atin picked up the last item in the fridge, a jar, and opened it, sniffing it's contents. "Haashun," Atin cursed, as he tossed aside the last of the food items in the fridge aside. "Nothing. All gone bad," he sighed as he looked over at the jar rolling through the dirt. Jelly. "Eh, I never liked that chit anyways. Too sweet."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Ukatis

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Lightsabers
Tag: Atin Tracinya

Valery blinked as he answered her, "I... didn't know Mandalorians had life debts like that." She knew too much of their warrior side, and had picked up plenty about her culture during her stay on Kestri. But this wasn't something she had heard of before, and she wasn't quite sure how to feel about it.

Especially not with a Jedi Master involved. Why didn't he release this man from his services?

Valery's expression turned a little grim, even though she tried to hide it. Her past with having to serve someone against her will couldn't help but bleed out, even if she supposed that this was different. This was part of a culture he respected, so perhaps this life debt wasn't the end of the world to him, the way it would have felt to her in his position. With a shake of her head, she forced all of those thoughts aside for now, and focused on the fridge.

She had shattered its hinges, and stepped back to let him pull the door out of the frame. For a moment, Valery looked hopeful again, but it quickly faded when nothing worth it seemed to be inside.

"I hope... he doesn't abuse this authority," Valery just said, before her eyes picked up on something too. Jelly? She blinked, and reached for the jar while Atin talked about it. Her stomach immediately growled as soon as she held it closer to her eyes, and her mouth began to water. Valery bit down on her lower lip, and tightened her grip around the jar just a little.

Why did it have to be jelly, of all things?

 

[Atin Tracinya]

"I... didn't know Mandalorians had life debts like that."

"There's a lot you Jedi don't know about us," Atin said, peering around them from his kneeling position, eyes and scanners searching for anything else they could potentially use. That and possible looters. Although Atin's pride wouldn't allow him to admit it, there was plenty that they Mandalorians didn't know about the Jedi either. His short time among them had showed him that much at least.

The most curious thing happened though as Atin stood from his knelt position, re-adjusting the position of blaster. The Jedi sounded concerned for him. Atin wasn't sure to laugh or call her crazy, so he opted to answer her question directly. "I wish. It'd make this whole ordeal a whole lot easier," he admitted, perhaps a little too brusquely. "Abuse I can handle. I have my entire life. At least then I could hate you and your kind for it. San Tekka though..." Atin went silent for a moment as the lips behind the helmet curled into a snarl. "He's been too kind, and promised not to ask anything that would violate the Creed." The Mandalorian went over to the discarded fridge door and pulled his harpoon free. "Its infuriating."

When he looked back over at the Sword she was gazing all too intensely at the contents of the jar of spoiled jelly. Even from where Atin stood, he could see the beginning growths of mold on its surface and on the walls of the glass. Her stomach audibly growled. "Please tell me you're not seriously thinking about eating that..." Atin deadpanned. "I don't want people to start thinking I killed you the first chance I got..."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Ukatis

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Lightsabers
Tag: Atin Tracinya

"You want to hate us?" Valery asked with a raised eyebrow. If abuse was something that'd make him hate, she couldn't quite understand how he justified his people attacking a planet like Ukatis, but perhaps it was best not to prod too much. He was here to help the people, and even under a life debt, she appreciated that.

Maybe it was just a small sign that things could be different.

With the jar of jelly in her hand, Valery stood frozen after that. She could tell that it was spoiled and she knew that she'd have to throw it away. But her stomach growled and all she wanted was jelly right now. Only his voice snapped her free from her own mind, and she turned to see that deadpan stare.

"O-of course not," Valery huffed. "Don't be ridiculous," she added, as if he was the one being weird.

"Pregnancy cravings make me enjoy jelly, but I'm not that desperate, thank you very much." She grumbled some more and put the jar away, before she turned around to see where they could head next.

 

[Atin Tracinya]

"You want to hate us?"

The question was somewhere between an inability to understand, and genuine curiosity, Atin thought. Nevertheless, when the man's visor turned towards the Jedi's direction again, hard eyes bore into the woman. "You declared war on my people," he reminded the Jedi. "So yes, hating you would be easier. We are enemies, and it is easier to kill an enemy you hate than one you share bonds with." Every soldier, every warrior bore scars. The surface ones, like the marks across the woman's eye, were but a few. Even the Jedi surely bore wounds that had carved away pieces of her soul. The worst of those were the ones a soldier inflicted upon himself in the name of all he held dear.

Not to mention that Atin was essentially a slave once more. A slave to his enemies. Enemies he couldn't help but admit he admired in some form or fashion. Mandalorians were not an expressive people, but they cared deeply for their friends, their family, their clans. Not a one would not sacrifice themselves for their people. While Atin was not certain the same level of camaraderie existed within the ranks of the Alliance, they were open about the way they felt, and the relief efforts that Atin had seen showed that they did not hesitate to help those in need. Admirable indeed.

It left the Mandalorian conflicted. His freedom was gone. But he was the only one to blame for that, too weak to fend for himself, just as he had been all those years ago.

Despite her assertion to the contrary, Atin had the distinct feeling that the Jedi had indeed been contemplating digging into the spoiled jar of jelly. Blankly he stared at her as the jar disappeared and made the reason why clear. Abruptly, Atin stood and marched all too close to the Jedi. "We're going back to camp," he said without hesitation. "There is nothing more sacred than a child, and you are risking yours by being out here. This patrol is over."

Valery Noble