What was lost, can be found. (Arrbi Betna)

[Arla Ordo]

Leave. She could leave. Exciting and frightening all at once. BUT. She'd be alone. She'd have no place to live. Could she survive as an indigent. She felt herself become uncomfortable.

She didn't know what to do and her appetite was fading. How does someone with nothing change?

"I'll think on it."

She peered down into the valley. "I understand doing something because it's credits. But maybe the raiders raid because that's how they survive." Vicious cycle she thought. "There's movement"

@[member="Arrbi Betna"]

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"They raid because they see outsiders as blasphemers," he said in response as he picked up his food and took a bite. It tasted of poorly flavored, mushy cardboard, but it was something. "They revere nature and see us non-Tuskens as destroyers of nature. They attack us because they feel that we're killing their world. Their spiritualness, so to speak. I can understand that, but at the same time, the galaxy is larger than them or this planet. Those of us who know that do what we have to do to survive. If that means dealing with a Hutt and shooting a few Raiders, so be it."

He pulled his helmet on as she announced movement and scanned the horizon until he found it. A pair of Tusken Raiders traveling in single file. He couldn't see anyone else out there and there was nothing to show that more were coming. Betna removed his helmet and set it back on the floor.

"Scouts," he stated as he took another bite. "They're trailblazing ahead to find the fastest routes. We'll see them go back that way in a couple of hours, then the rest will follow. If not, we'll see a campfire in the distance for the rest to see and go to. Easy pickings either way."

@[member="Arla Balor"]

 

[Arla Ordo]

Arla listened and tried to follow the logic, Arrbi seemed quite sure of this line of thinking. Perhaps because he had been raised on Mandalore, "Were you raised on Mandalore?" Curious now, and wondering if she had been raised there how different would she be now?

Strange the things that went through her mind at times.

"So if they set up camp, you plan on entering the camp?" He would go in while they slept? She wondered.

@[member="Arrbi Betna"]

 

[Arrbi Betna]

Betna shrugged a bit as he ate, his nonverbal equivalent of 'more or less'.

"I was raised there from the age of eight or so, yeah," he said between chewing. "Before that, I don't remember much. I just remember it was very green and arboreal, but nothing else, really. Well, aside from the dialect of Basic I spoke as a kid."

He looked up and thought a moment or two at her last question.

"No, probably not. Not unless they give me good reason," he said, slowly at first. "I'll catch them in the open there, between the rock outcroppings. It looks like a short distance from here, but it's a good couple hundred yards apart. Once they hit the middle-ish area, I'll pick them off. Should be an easy job, but you never know."

@[member="Arla Balor"]

 

[Arla Ordo]

She nodded ok. "If they don't, are we staying out here tonight?" Why did she ask, just so that she knew. "It must have felt good to grow up on Mandalore, how old were you when you particpated in the rites of adulthood?" She thought she had it right, maybe not.

She watched him though, he was direct. Nonchalant about what is and what was, either accept it or not. He was living the life he wanted, and it seemed the way he wanted. But did this come from training, or evolution? She tilted her head again looking at him, were all mandalorian men like him?"

@[member="Arrbi Betna"]

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"If they don't, we'll play it by ear," he said as he finished up the meal.

He bagged up the trash, using the packaging as a make shift waste bin, and thought about her question. He was silent for a moment or two, scratching his cheek in thought as he mulled over an answer. After a moment or two more of silence, he spoke.

"I was twelve when I took my verd'goten," he said. "By then I had been learning from my father for about four years. Afterwards, I started helping my dad more as an equal and less as student. It was nice enough, I suppose."

@[member="Arla Balor"]

 

[Arla Ordo]

She nodded, "So I'm really far behind when it comes to how Mandalorians are raised" She did not know if that was good or bad, the things that she had heard about training, beatings, that some died from survival of the fittest, was it all true?

She didn't know, "Did you have to become a mercenary, or would you have done something else?" She knew that mandalorians were known for mercenary and bounty hunters, what if she couldn't do that, did they throw her away for being weak?

So many questions, that sounded like a child.

@[member="Arrbi Betna"]

 

[Arrbi Betna]

Betna shrugged a bit as he watched the dunes below for movement. The Tuskens wouldn't be by for a while, but you never knew. Sometimes they'd move overnight to surprise a target.

"You're not far behind at all," he responded. "Some Mandos aren't raised as one. Beings become Mandos at any point in their lives, really. I wasn't born a Mando, just raised one. I know a few who became Mandalorians later in life. It's not a question of adulthood ceremonies, though we do those for our children to signify a step from child to adult. It's a question of can you live up to our codes and pull your weight in any way you can. As for your other question, mercenary and bounty work pays better than the other things I know how to do. I'm good at it and it pays well, so why swap jobs. We're not all mercenaries, though. We have bartenders, doctors, veterinarians, and even garbage collectors just like everyone else. Being a Mando is more than just knowing where the loud end of a weapon is supposed to go."

@[member="Arla Balor"]

 

[Arla Ordo]

"Do they have to run around singing that old cadence, this is my weapon this my gun this is for fighting this is for fun?" She wanted to see if she could make him laugh, he had been so serious the whole time they were together, and she was asking him a lot of questions, questions that probably were pushing his limits, or patience.

"What would happen to me if I went to Mandalore with you?" Would she be abandoned to figure it out, or would there be people to help. "is it that you'd take me there, and say here you go and then disappear?" To be abandoned was the worst feeling, how many times in her life would she have to face that

@[member="Arrbi Betna"]

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"No, we don't, but we do enjoy stacking the skulls of our enemies into pyramids on occasion and you haven't lived until you'd mounted heads on pikes. It's fun for the whole family," he said, his face and voice deadpan, though he hoped that she realized he was joking. Mounting heads on pikes was a pain in the ass, primarily when you tried to punch the tip of the pole through the top of the skull.

He thought about her other questions, the serious ones, for a moment.

"What happens to you once we reach Mandalore is for you to decide," he said eventually. "But I'm not going to just dump you on the planet and then head out again. That's not my way of doing things."

@[member="Arla Balor"]

 

[Arla Ordo]

She laughed he caught her. Ok they were both too sarcastic for their own good. She sat smiling to herself even as he answered the serious questions. Then her expression changed this was important for her to know and understand.

She looked into his eyes, looking for the tell of a lie but she saw nothing. He had not flinched or moved as he spoke and oddly it made her feel better like there was a chance for her. She could really go now, there was nothing holding her here. He said he wouldn't dump her and leave her. Ok.

"I only have one thing to take with me and its in the closet where I sleep at the bar" She was telling him, that she would go. She didn't need credits, she needed answers, and a life that was more than this.

@[member="Arrbi Betna"]

 

[Arrbi Betna]

Betna gave a short nod and went back to watching the dunes.

"Best get some shuteye. Only a handful of hours till the rest get here, then we go to work," he stated as he settled in to watch the pass with as much comfort as he could muster from the niche.

--------------------------------------

An hour before dawn, Betna nudged Arla with his booted toe.

"Wake up," he stated, his tone neutral and business like now that work was at hand. "Movement down at the pass. Looks like a few Tuskens. Single file. I see two Banthas so far."

@[member="Arla Balor"]

 

[Arla Ordo]

Sleep had come and so had her nightly dreams when Arrbi nudged her with is boot her eyes shot open and her body reacted sitting straight up. She looked as though someone had walked on her grave.

She looked through the scope focussing in on the trail, as she yawned. Her heart was thundering from the shot of adrenaline, "two banthas confirmed." She waited a few more moments, "no make that four, and its two groups, looks like the camp moving" She looked over to Arrbi.

Work she thought, ok....what she remembered she was leaving with him.

@[member="Arrbi Betna"]

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"I see them," Betna stated as he peered down his scope. "Yeah, looks like the camp is moving entirely. I can see the two scouts heading back from up ahead, now."

The Mandalorian watched them carefully and gauged the time frame it would take them to cross. Hopefully, the raiders and the two scouts would meet up in the middle, which would only take about five or ten minutes, tops. Betna kept the weapon trained downrange and didn't take his visor from the scope.

"You ready?" he asked neutrally. "For what's to come?"

@[member="Arla Balor"]

 

[Arla Ordo]

He was going to kill them, "I take it you want me to shoot them too" she whispered. She looked through the scope again she clenched her teeth could she do that?

She looked down waiting for him to tell her whether he expected her to kill them too.

@[member="Arrbi Betna"]

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"No, I want you to spot targets and keep an eye down the path to make sure nothing comes up at us," Betna said with a slight shrug. "Also, why are you whispering? They can't hear us from here."

The Tuskens kept walking toward each other. Fairly soon, the two groups would meet. Once that happened, Betna would have to get to work.

@[member="Arla Balor"]

 

[Arla Ordo]

"Cause our voices carry and the bantha can hear us, if they sense something they will alert the Raiders" She nodded, and had to think she had accepted the deal she would go through with it. "Ok....I'm ready, the path and nothing to come after us"

Yes cause once the shots started the raiders would be after them, and what raiders did to people, well it wasn't pretty.

@[member="Arrbi Betna"]

 

[Arrbi Betna]

"The bantha can hear us from a mile away?" Betna asked skeptical. Seeing the other woman's look he shrugged and turned back to the scope. "Alright, if you say so, Bantha-Whisperer."

Betna watched as the two finally met up. They spent a moment or two speaking, but then continued onwards towards the new camp.

"Alright, I'm going to start shooting in a second or two. Need to wait for the wind to die down a bit."

@[member="Arla Balor"]

 

[Arla Ordo]

"You'd be surprised" she whispered back. She smiled he was teasing her back not a bad sign. Shooting, ok, and with that would begin the other part of their deal her watching to make sure no one came in around them to pick them off.

She knew they could also come in across from them too, Raiders were sneaky. "Ok" It was all she said.

@[member="Arrbi Betna"]

 

[Arrbi Betna]

Betna didn't hear her answer. Or, at least, he did, but it didn't register. As soon as he was back on the scope he was tuned into the shot. Snipers zoned in when they worked. It was more personal than people shooting at each other in firefights. There, you often didn't see the target up close and, if you did, it was over so fast that you barely remembered what happened. Sniping was different. You saw your target up close in your scope. You watched his eyes move. You watched him speaking to others around him whether relaying orders or telling jokes to his friends. You saw him wipe at his nose or scratch an itch. It was completely personal.

It was also completely one sided. The sniper knew that he held the target's life in their hands and that their job was to end it. It was a tough calling and few could do it for long. Betna had been doing it for a decade now. Since he was fourteen or so. It took a toll with each shot, or, at least, that's what they told him. He'd long since stopped looking inwards at himself. It wasn't that he was afraid of what he'd find. He was afraid of what might not be there.

Betna waited a moment as the wind died down and adjusted the shot. The target was moving steadily forward without stopping. He adjusted for that, too. The range was long which meant Betna had to adjust for bullet drop, so he did. Once done, he took a second or two to sync his breathing and heartbeat together and to slow both down. Too much pressure on the trigger, or too little, could foul the shot. So could an accidental twitch. Even a heartbeat could alter the trajectory with the minutest movement of finger on the trigger.

Arrbi waited for the lull between heartbeats and for his breathing to slow to a stop before firing. The rifle cracked as his finger slowly took up the slack until the mechanism launched the firing pin forward to ignite the primer. The small spark lit the chemical propellant in the casing and violently sent the bullet roaring down the barrel and out from the muzzle of the rifle. In the distance, Betna watched the lead scout pitch from his seat on top of the bantha and fall face first into the sand. It had all happened in just a few seconds. Such was the nature of killing at long range.

Betna worked the bolt and chambered another round. He wasn't finished yet.

@[member="Arla Balor"]