A Mandalorian's Daughter Chapter 1 - Canderous

Canderous sighed as he stared at the bottom of his empty glass. Lately it seemed like every time he retreated to the lower city cantina that his glass was empty more times than it was full. A good strong Mandalorian ale had always cured his aliments, but even the ale couldn’t stop the dreams he had of her.

It’s been what four? No, 5 years since I saw her, hell, I probably wouldn’t even recognize her if I saw her again, Canderous thought bitterly. But he knew that he would recognize her, how could he love her that much and not? He remembered what she looked like when they had met. Her long cascading brown hair dangling in its customary pig tails, and the way her vibrant misty blue eyes sparkled during the battle. Canderous couldn’t help but chuckle at the memory, how could he have known that the child-like petite Jedi that he had faced all those years ago, would become the thing he loved most in the galaxy?

Frack, Aunie, I thought I had finally put you behind me, but here you are in my thoughts again, Canderous told his empty glass. Aunie was different from all the other girls that Canderous had loved, those he had loved romantically, but Aunie, sweet Aunie, he had loved like a father, hell legally he was.

The slim cocktail waitress finally came over to Canderous while she was making her rounds and left him with several glasses of ale and then scurried away. Canderous was known for his fast temper and being trigger-happy when he’d been drinking, but Aunie had seen past all that. Her real name was Audrey, but in Mandalorian it translated to Aunie. It was eerie the way it fitted her so well. It meant beautiful maiden in the old language, and fierce warrior in the modern tongue. Canderous had always called her Aunie, and he was the only one she allowed to call her that. To everyone else she was Audrey.

Canderous gulped down the ale and rubbed his eyes, the dream had been different every night for the past five nights. The first night the dream showed Aunie sitting at a bar watching the stars streaming by a port window. In the dream you couldn’t see her face, but Canderous knew it was her from the tattoos she had around her upper arms. The tattoos were meaningless to anyone but a Mandalorian. 

To a Mandalorian it told you that her name and the battles that she had fought in, and that she had been adopted in to the Ordo clan. Canderous had gone with her to get the tattoos done when she was 10 years old, she had lost a challenge to Canderous, and so she had gotten them. Aunie often hid them when she was on a mission so she couldn’t be recognized. The dream showed the same thing over and over until the bar shook and the stars that Aunie had been watching were replaced by a sith fighter. Canderous had jerked awake as the ship shook and Aunie leapt up and grabbed her blaster.

The next night showed Aunie standing on the bridge ordering the republic cruiser to open fire on the sith ship. This time he saw her face, and he wished he hadn’t. Very few people besides Canderous could tell when Aunie was frightened. From the way Aunie’s eyes seemed like she was looking through you instead of at you, he could see that she was scared. Yet there was more than fear in her eyes, there was a sorrow that filled them to the brim that Canderous didn’t remember being there five years ago.  She seemed so much older now, not the naive little thing he had parted with.  Aunie ordered assault after assault against the sith ship, Canderous saw the sith ship dodge nearly half of the blasts; he also saw how much damage the republic cruiser had sustained. The last thing Canderous heard before he woke up was that the Endar Spire’s shields were gone and so was the hyper drive.

The other dreams had shown Aunie fighting in a short series of battles against sith soldiers.  In the dreams Aunie wasn't always alone.  The second dream had shown a face that Canderous was familiar with.  Bastila. She was Aunie’s older sister, a Jedi just like Aunie. Bastila and Canderous had never seen eye to eye on the way Aunie worked. There was a man too, Aunie had called her Carth, Canderous paid him no mind; all he noticed was that he wore an annoyingly bright orange flight jacket.    

There was one other person that appeared clearly, a woman who Aunie called Link Dark.  Canderous did notice Link.  She was not like any soldier he had seen, she looked like a merc'. Maybe a bounty hunter, but not a republic.  It was all in the way that she walked, the way that she had fought.  Any other time Canderous would have focused on her, but it was Aunie, she demanded his attention.   

   

The dreams had all taken place on a ship except for the one he had last night, the last dream had shown Aunie, Carth, and Link in a small escape pod, and Aunie was unconscious, blood was seeping freely from a blaster wound in her side. Canderous had seen nothing more after that, the last thing he remembered was the planet looming below the tiny escape pod. Canderous hadn’t dared trying to go to sleep again after that, for the fear of what he might see, was far greater than his desire to see her again.

    

Canderous downed all the ale in his glass in one gulp, Damn implant, I can’t even get decently drunk anymore, Canderous thought to himself as he massaged his neck. At least I know she’s alive, I have that comfort. After five frack’n' years I know she is alive, or was until last night, he told himself again.

     

Aunie and Canderous had met during the end of the Mandalorian War, she was a Jedi fighting for the republic, and he was fighting for the Mandalore. They had met during battle on Canderous’ home world; they had been fighting against one another when Aunie got separated from the battle. Canderous had followed her to make sure she didn’t get away when he wounded her on her side, she had faked defeat to get close to her target, and he had fell for it. She pretended to surrender in order to be brought before the one of the Mandalores, the leaders of all the Mandalorians. She had sprung into battle as soon as she was in range, she had fought against both Canderous and the Mandalore, and she had won. 

       

The defeat of a Mandalore is very rare in Mandalorian society, and the person capable of doing so is treated with honor. After the battle Aunie had negotiated with the Mandalore and she had convinced him to surrender to the republic, but most people don’t know that version, they were told the truth at least part of it. At the same time Revan, a Jedi, was battling with the other Mandalore at the same time, she too won against him. The public was told that Revan was the one to bring peace to the galaxy, they didn’t want anyone to know about Aunie, because she was an amazing asset to any army, and so is the method of surprise. 

  

 Aunie had spent a year in Mandalorian space, and she and Canderous had become fast friends. When Canderous asked her if he could adopt her, she didn’t hesitate to say yes. They had to go to the Republic embassy to finalize the adoption, which the Jedi didn’t approve, but it was done anyway. Several months passed and they stayed in Republic space, but then Aunie was ordered to report for duty and go on a series of missions, and she didn’t come back. The last Canderous had heard she had been gravely injured and she was being taken to the Jedi Temple, and they didn’t know if she would make it.

  

 Canderous had left to try to be with her but he couldn’t find her. He had spent all these years wondering if she was even still alive, but now that he knew that she was alive it made him worry. What worried him was who was the target of the Sith attack, Bastila or Aunie? Canderous couldn’t explain it but somehow he knew that the dreams were real, that those things were actually happening, and that Aunie was in danger, but she was alive, for now at least...