Private The Iron and the Wolf

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Somewhere in Mandalorian Space

Equipment:
Vanguard Robes | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm | Tic

The blaster bolt never reached its target. Blue light snapped through the smoke, catching the shot inches before it struck the young Jedi scrambling across the courtyard. Ace twisted his wrist and sent the bolt screaming harmlessly into the stone above them.

"Stop!"

Nobody listened. Of course they fucking didn't. Another Mandalorian pushed through the smoke to his right, rifle already rising. Ace thrust out his prosthetic hand and caught the weapon with the Force, wrenching its barrel toward the ground just as it fired. Stone burst beneath the warrior's boots.

"I'm not here to fight you."

A lightsaber flashed somewhere behind him. Ace turned and one of the Jedi had taken his intervention as an opportunity to charge the Mandalorian he'd just disarmed. Ace's expression tightened.

His hand snapped sideways and the Jedi's weapon arm jerked off course, the blade passing harmlessly beside the Mandalorian's helmet. Ace stepped between them before either could recover, blue lightsaber held low but ready.

For half a heartbeat, both stared at him. "Enough."

Apparently that was enough to make them reconsider. Ace didn't wait to see for how long. Smoke rolled through what had once been the enclave grounds, swallowing statues, shattered walls and burning vegetation beneath a thick grey haze. Mandalorian warriors moved through it in organized groups while pockets of Jedi resistance continued fighting from deeper inside the compound. Somewhere overhead, engines thundered through the atmosphere.

Tic clung to Ace's back as he moved through the smoke, occasionally chirping warnings whenever movement appeared beyond Ace's line of sight. Ace told him twice to stay with the ship, but when did he ever listen.

Ace had arrived late, but not accidentally. Briana's words on D'Qar had stayed with him

"--Then there's the Mandalorian's out there crucifying Jedi and others, live on the holonet,

He didn't know if she'd meant the Empire or the Covenant, but the distinction mattered when your brother was Mand'alor. Ace could have simply called Aether, probably should have. But he'd developed a particular distaste for forming conclusions from somebody else's version of events. So he'd started looking.

HoloNet reports. Military movements. Worlds recently absorbed into Mandalorian territory. Whatever scraps of information he could pull together without advertising what he was searching for. Eventually a pattern had emerged. Then came word of Mandalorian forces moving toward a Jedi enclave. So Ace followed, expecting answers. Instead he'd dropped into the middle of a fucking battle.

A nearby explosion ripped his attention back to the present. Ace threw his arm across his face as fragments of stone scattered through the courtyard. Someone screamed and he snapped toward the sound. Three figures were huddled beside what remained of an archway. One looked old enough to be a Padawan, maybe, but the other two... kids. Or Younglings. Whatever they were called.

It didn't matter. Ace moved before thinking as another volley tore across the courtyard. His lightsaber became a blur as he intercepted the first shot, then the second. The third slipped wide. Ace planted himself between the young Jedi and the fighting, extending his free hand as another section of damaged masonry groaned above them, telekinetically catching it.

"Go!" They hesitated. "Now!"

The three disappeared through the ruined archway while Ace shoved outward, sending the collapsing stone away from them. It crashed into the courtyard with enough force to kick another cloud of dust into the air.

Ace coughed, waving it from his face. He still didn't know what had started this. The Mandalorians hadn't simply appeared over a Jedi enclave for no reason. Whatever else Ace thought of his brother, Aether wasn't stupid. He had an entire Empire to govern and wars of his own to fight. There was something here Ace wasn't seeing.

But there were Padawans fighting in these courtyards. Younglings hiding inside these buildings. And every minute this continued was another opportunity for somebody who had nothing to do with whatever started it to end up underneath the rubble.

A Mandalorian came through the haze ahead and Ace extinguished his lightsaber immediately and raised both hands.

"Su'cuy, vod."

The warrior's rifle remained trained on him. Ace glanced briefly at the weapon before looking back toward the visor.

"Acier Moonbound. Mand'alor te Beskar's vod. Ni copad at sur'haa'ir kaysh."

Another explosion thundered somewhere deeper inside the enclave. Ace looked toward it, then back.

"Where is he?"

The Mandalorian didn't answer quickly enough. Ace stepped around them and continued deeper into the compound, periodically calling through the smoke.

"Aether!"

Ace broke into a run. He didn't know whether Briana had been right, what these Jedi had done, or what his brother believed justified any of this. Right now, Ace only knew what was directly in front of him. People were getting hurt. Children were caught in the middle. And somewhere inside this mess was the one person who could tell him why.

"AETHER!"
​

Aether Verd ​

 

[Aether Verd]

Wearing:
Armor - Darksaber - Mask of Mandalore
.​

NIXOR, MID RIM

The Enclave had all but fallen.

Aether had to give it to the Lightbearers, this was a bold gamble. Those who survived the Mandalorian conquests of the Hapan Cluster and surrounding systems chose not to wisen up and flee the path of the Empire. Instead, the opted to regroup just within its borders. They deluded themselves into thinking that conquered ground would be far from the Mandalorians' attention. They hoped that the Empire was so focused on its crusade outward that they'd never look inward.

They were wrong.​

The Nite Owls sniffed out the existence of this very Enclave mere weeks after it had been occupied. It was here that the Lightbearers hoped to lick their wounds, gather support, and then resume their wicked game. As far as Aether understood it, the Jedi were the inspiration behind the Diarchy's method of warfare. It was always honied words, bureaucracy, and manipulation with the Light. It was always mind tricks and other madness which saw worlds defy Mandalore's advance. So many systems would never have been so much as singed were it not for them.

But because they existed? Because they plied their wicked trade? They bled.

The assault had been underway for a few hours now and it was nearing completion. With each moment, his warriors followed his edict to the letter: Secure the children. Kill the rest. And as the battle began to wane, Aether personally was engaged in hammering down a few stubborn nails. The Darksaber in hand, he battered away an emerald blade belonging to the Enclave's temple master. His adversary, a Togruta woman wearing traditional Jedi robes, faltered at the rebuff and retreated a few paces.

"It's over, Jetii." came Aether's voice. It was a wrathful hiss from behind his helmet. "Your evil ends today."

The Togruta raised her lightsaber, assuming a defensive stance. Behind her, an explosion kicked up dust and smoke, rattling her form ever so slightly. "What evil? We have done nothing to you or your kind!" she pled. This earned a laugh devoid of amusement from the Sole Ruler. His offhand rose, the Force shrieked out, and suddenly the Togruta was clutching her at her neck. Each breath was ragged. Her attempts to claw free the invisible hand that crushed her airwaves were feeble.

"There is no such thing as a Mandalorian civilian." Aether stepped calmly across the field, raising the obsidian blade. "These are Jetii words. Your kind? Your way? We cannot co-exist. When the Dark Side falters, where will your crusade next turn, hmm? Where does it always turn? Never again."

The killing blow was nigh, but a voice gave the Mand'alor pause. It couldn't be...and yet it was. Acier? Here? Why? He turned to see the ashen-haired Hero moving towards his position...what in the world? Aether flicked his wrist and the Force viciously replied. The grip upon the woman's throat accelerated in the blink of an eye. There was a snap, crackle, pop! Bones were turned to jelly and the temple master fell to the dirt. Aether wasted no time in moving towards his brother, then.

For Acier liked to wield a damned blue lightsaber, and that was a death sentence here.

"ACIER!" Aether roared back, raising his blade high so that he could be seen through the smoke. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Nixor

Equipment:
Vanguard Robes | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm | Tic

The Darksaber rose above the smoke. Ace caught sight of the black blade almost immediately after hearing his name, its familiar shape cutting through the haze like a beacon. Aether. Finally.

He changed direction and pushed toward it. Between the explosions, blasterfire and collapsing stone, Ace found himself wondering just how much his brother actually knew.

A lot had happened since they'd last spoken. More than Ace had found the time to explain to almost anyone. He'd escaped incarceration. Joined up with a splinter group of Jedi that had broken away from the Order. Then, somehow, managed to become one of the High Republic's most wanted fugitives after breaking into Shiraya's Sanctuary and helping extract a Sith prisoner.

That last one probably required some explanation.

Everything had happened so quickly that there'd barely been time to breathe, much less call his family and explain that he was alright. That he was alive and still fighting.

Ace ducked beneath a streak of blasterfire and continued toward the black blade, Tic clinging tightly to his back. The little BD-unit gave an anxious series of chirps as another explosion shook the enclave.

"Yeah, I know."

When Aether finally emerged through the smoke, Ace slowed. Despite everything, some small part of Ace almost smiled. Almost.

A Togruta woman lay crumpled in the dirt, traditional Jedi robes unmistakable even beneath the dust. Her lightsaber rested nearby. Ace's eyes lingered on her for a moment before slowly lifting toward the Darksaber in Aether's hand.

His expression tightened. "Why do you think I'm here, mir'osik?!"

He closed the remaining distance between them before sweeping his hand toward the enclave around them. The burning structures, the bodies, and the Mandalorian warriors sweeping what remained of the grounds while scattered fighting continued deeper inside.

"What is this?"

Tic gave a low, uneasy trill from behind his shoulder, as if adding his own question to Ace's.

Ace's attention returned to his brother, lingering. Something was wrong. He'd fought beside Aether before. Serenno came immediately to mind. Ace remembered the focus his brother carried into battle, the natural intensity that seemed to settle over him once the fighting began. There had been purpose behind every movement. The kind of clarity Ace had seen in experienced warriors before.

This wasn't that. Ace couldn't immediately put a name to what he was sensing, but standing this close made the difference impossible to ignore. There was something else underneath Aether's presence now. Something harder and heavier.

Ace's brow furrowed, gaze briefly passing over the Darksaber before returning to the visor concealing his brother's face.

"I heard what's been happening." There was no accusation in his voice. "Jedi being executed. Crucified and broadcast across the HoloNet." His eyes moved across the ruined enclave again. "I didn't know whether it was true. Didn't even know if they were talking about your Empire or-- I needed to see for myself."

Aether Verd​

 

[Aether Verd]

Wearing:
Armor - Darksaber - Mask of Mandalore
.​

NIXOR, MID RIM

The immediate response was indignation.

As the young Hero approached, the words he greeted Aether with were fiery. The Mando'a insult was one that, particularly, gave the man pause. His eyebrow rose from underneath his helm, as he contemplated who the fuck was Ace talking to because it surely wasn't him. However, a breath later, Aether stowed that thought. He recognized how this would look to Ace, who had always orbited the world of the Lightbearers. Here was his family, putting to the sword family.

Finally, a sigh fell from the Mand'alor's lips.

"What does it look like? This is war, Ace."

He extinguished the Darksaber and stowed it upon his belt before stepping closer to his sibling.

"These Lightbearers are playing the game of the Diarchy, leading men to die unnecessarily with their deception. Leading worlds to burn in battles they cannot win. There are consequences for this, Ace. This -" He motioned at the destruction around them. "- is that consequence. I don't know what has motivated these Lightbearers to get in the Empire's way. Perhaps they are rebels weeping at how futile their efforts to stop the Sith are, and so they make themselves feel better by opposing me. Whatever the case is, we will not stand for it."

He then folded his arms, impatience coloring his tone.

"If it will make you feel better brother, the children are in no danger. Those old enough to be accountable for their choices? They die. Those who are not will be taken, purged of the Light's misguidance, and raised as Mandalorians. They will be safe and loved, far from the inevitable frontlines of the next Jedi crusade."

His chin then jutted towards his brother.

"You've now seen what's going on. This isn't the place for you, Ace. If you stay, your attire and blade will draw fire. I cannot guarantee that my men will look for your hair color before your saber color right now. You are not safe here."

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Nixor

Equipment:
Vanguard Robes | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm | Tic

Ace felt it. That brief flare of indignation through the Force that came off Aether before it was smothered beneath something calmer. Understanding, maybe. Ace's expression shifted slightly as he caught the change. His brother had checked himself.

His eyebrow rose at Aether's answer. War? Really? Ace glanced pointedly around them. The burning structures, blaster fire, the bodies scattered across the enclave grounds, and the lingering chaos of Jedi and Mandalorians trying to kill each other.

No shit.

His attention returned to Aether as his brother continued, and this time Ace listened without interruption. According to Aether, the Jedi had been playing games. Deception. Encouraging worlds to resist battles they couldn't win, throwing lives away while hiding their own involvement behind them. This destruction wasn't senseless in Aether's eyes. It was consequence. A response to people repeatedly putting themselves in the Mandalorian Empire's path.

Ace's jaw shifted slightly. He believed him. Or, perhaps more accurately, Ace believed that Aether believed it. His brother wasn't a liar. Not to him, at least. If Aether said the Jedi had been manipulating worlds into conflicts they couldn't win, Ace had no immediate reason to assume he'd fabricated it. Hell, after everything Ace had seen over the last two years, blind faith in any Jedi institution would've been laughable.

Still... This? Ace exhaled slowly through his nose. For a second, listening to Aether speak about consequences, futile resistance and what happened when people stood against the Empire, Ace could hear someone else underneath his brother's voice. Their father... that probably shouldn't have surprised him.

Then Aether explained what would happen to the children and Ace's expression hardened. That did not make him feel better. The younger ones wouldn't be killed. Fine. Good. But they'd be taken. Removed from everything they'd known, stripped of the Jedi's teachings and raised as Mandalorians instead. "Safe and loved" according to Aether. Far from whatever Jedi crusade inevitably came next.

Ace stared at his brother for several seconds. "Far away from the next Jedi crusade?" His head tilted slightly. "And what about the next Mandalorian crusade, vod? You kill their families and then say you're saving them? Come on."

His gaze briefly moved across the battlefield again. What gave Aether that right? What gave any of them that right? Those kids had identities. Families. Lives. Maybe some of them would grow up and decide the Jedi were full of shit. Maybe some would become Jedi Knights. Maybe they'd leave the Force behind entirely and become farmers somewhere.

That was supposed to be their choice. Not Aether's. The Mandalore's. The Jedi's. No one's.

The warning that followed softened something in Ace, if only slightly. Whatever else they disagreed on, Aether was still his brother. Beneath everything happening around them, Ace could feel the concern for what it was. His eyes briefly flicked toward the Mandalorians scattered across the battlefield before returning to Aether.

A humorless laugh escaped through his nostrils. "This is just another day for me."

Mandalorians with blasters trained on him ranked pretty low on the list of bullshit he'd had to deal with lately. Besides, Aether's warning dragged something else out of his memory.

Their first meeting. Sinner's Well.

“One day, the Jedi or the Sith are going to come to Mandalore’s doorstep. Not with handshakes. With warships. And when that day comes, I want every advantage.”

Ace remembered those words clearly now and his eyes wandered across the enclave. Smoke curled into the sky, Mandalorians moved through grounds that had belonged to Jedi, and somewhere behind all of this were children who would apparently be taken away and raised by the people who had conquered their home.

Then his gaze returned to Aether. Five seconds ago his brother had stood there complaining about Jedi putting themselves in the Empire's way.

Ace's eyes lowered. "This is so stupid..."

The words weren't really directed at Aether. They slipped out quietly, exhausted more than angry. Because it was. All of it. The Mandalorians and the Jedi. The High Republic and the Sith. The Sith Covenant and the Iron Covenant. Even the fucking Vanguard and the Jedi.

Everybody had their reasons. Everybody had their grievances. Everybody could point backward to the last atrocity, the last betrayal, the last war and explain why their violence was different. Why their retaliation was necessary. Why the bodies at their feet were somebody else's fault.

Ace was so fucking tired of it. War after war. Empire after Republic. Jedi after Sith. Someone won, somebody lost, everyone buried their dead, and then whatever children survived grew up angry enough to start the whole fucking thing over again. And somehow every generation convinced themselves that this time they were going to be the ones who finally ended it.

Aether Verd​

 

[Aether Verd]

Wearing:
Armor - Darksaber - Mask of Mandalore
.​

NIXOR, MID RIM

A metallic huff fell from the Mand'alor's helm.

Aether didn't expect his little brother to fully embrace what he was saying. While it was the truth, the difference in their worlds was on full display now. Acier's words about the next Mandalorian Crusade? That was what had plucked a nerve.

"These children didn't choose to be Jedi. They were donated, stolen, or coerced into this life. They were spoonfed dogma, told to repress every part of being human, and taught to kill anyone who disagrees with their worldview. Mandalorian Crusades give the option of surrender. I give the option of where to serve. Jedi Crusades coined the phrase 'there is no such thing as a Mandalorian civilian.' Never forget that."

As he spoke, the Mand'alor stepped closer to his sibling. This was just another day for him? Being in a literal warzone? Well...He had seen Ace fight firsthand. But this was a position he never wanted his sibling to be in. He never wanted Ace, or anyone he cared about, to be staring down the barrel of his Empire. Aether parted his lips to speak again, to try and talk some sense into his sibling.

But.

"This is so stupid..."​

Aether stopped dead in his tracks. His boots crunched upon the blasted earth with finality. Why? Acier was right. This was stupid. The fact that the Mandalorians had to go to these extremes just to guarantee their survival in the future? The fact that there was always someone or something lurking in the dark, waiting to extinguish them as a people? The fact that, no matter how much restraint Aether showed the Galaxy, there was always someone in line next to show their ass?

"Yes, it's fucking ridiculous. But these are the cards I've been dealt. I have to ensure that our people survive - that there is a next generation of Mandalorians. I wish I could find a way to seize that future without these measures. I wish above all, that you and I could just be normal brothers for a millisecond. That we could spend a weekend lamenting our women problems. But that's not in the cards for me."

He motioned towards Acier.

"Maybe it's in the cards for you. You're my brother. You're the son of Darth-fucking-Metus. The Sith Empress, as far as I can tell, adores you. And you even walked among the Sith Covenant as one of their own. You've bled for the Light. You've stood among them as family as well. You have ties to every mover and shaker in this Galaxy, Ace. Maybe it's in the cards for you to fix all this stupidity. Maybe that's why our old man calls you..."

"Hero."​

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Nixor

Equipment:
Vanguard Robes | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm | Tic

Ace's gaze shifted away in contemplation. Aether had a point. Some of the Younglings here probably hadn't chosen this life. Some would've been handed over by parents before they were old enough to understand what Jedi even were. Others might've come willingly when they were older. Ace didn't know enough about the people inside this enclave to say which was which, and pretending every child here had freely chosen the identity placed upon them would've been dishonest.

His eyes found Aether's again, and he conceded. "You're right. But is doing it all over again any better?" His brow furrowed. "Take them in and care for them, sure. But raising them as Mandalorians... aren't you just forcing something else on them? Shouldn't they get to choose?"

Aether's other point lingered longer. The Mandalorians offered surrender. Choices in where someone served. The Jedi, meanwhile, had their own bloody history with his people. Aether hadn't needed to explain much beyond the phrase he'd referenced. Ace understood why his comment about another Mandalorian crusade had struck a nerve now.

His gaze lowered toward the Togruta lying at Aether's feet.

There is no such thing as a Mandalorian civilian.

Maybe Jedi had once believed that. Maybe they'd used those words to justify atrocities against Mandalorians in the past. Ace wasn't going to defend it, but the woman lying dead in front of him hadn't been there.

His eyes remained on her. How many generations separated her from whatever Jedi had coined those words? Had she believed them too? Had she even known about them? Did any of that matter now that she was dead? Did she deserve to pay for the sins of people who'd lived before her?

He didn't have an answer, Ace only knew that some part of him still couldn't accept that this was what justice was supposed to look like.

It wasn't until Aether responded to his muttered frustration that Ace finally looked up again. He hadn't even realized his brother had moved closer until now.

"But these are the cards I've been dealt."

Ace exhaled through his nostrils. He knew that argument, lived with it too. Long before the Covenant he'd told himself the exact same words. Eventually, that belief ended with him standing over bodies across the Core wondering when exactly he'd stopped recognizing the person responsible for them.

But then Aether said something else. That, more than anything, he wished they could just be normal brothers for a millisecond. Ace's expression softened and one corner of his mouth twitched despite himself. In a better galaxy, maybe they would.

"Yeah." It was quiet, but genuine.

Then Aether continued. Ace initially thought nothing of it. His brother began listing the increasingly ridiculous web his life had become. Verd. Son of Darth Metus. Somehow in the good graces of the Sith Empress. Former Sith Covenant. Friend and family to people among the Light. Every sentence pulled another piece of Ace's life into the open and laid it beside the others.

Then Aether suggested maybe he could do something about all of this. Ace went still, then another word followed.

"Hero.​

For a moment, Ace said nothing. After everything that had happened, the word felt heavier than it had any right to. Aether could apparently look at the mess of contradictions that made up Acier Moonbound and see possibility. Connections stretching across lines nobody else seemed capable of crossing. Someone who could stand between these worlds rather than belonging completely to any one of them.

Ace couldn't see that. All those connections Aether listed didn't feel like opportunities from where Ace stood. They felt like a catalogue of places he'd failed. People he'd hurt. Trust he'd broken. Every time Ace had convinced himself he knew what needed to be done, someone else seemed to pay for it.

His gaze fell. "Last time I thought I could fix everything, I helped the Sith Covenant take the Core. Helped them massacre Tapani. Balmorra. Humbraine. More..."

Ace shook his head. His eyes drifted across the destruction surrounding them.

"I lost myself, Aether."

For all the excuses he'd made and all the reasons he'd once believed justified what he was doing, there had come a point where he became someone he didn't recognize. Someone capable of doing things the kid who'd left Bonadan would've been horrified by. Maybe that was why hearing Aether speak about necessity bothered him so much.

Ace slowly looked back toward his brother. "I see all this now. The similarities. And... I don't want you to lose yourself too."

Aether Verd ​