Tales of the Mandalorians

[Dieter Schprokets]

William Bishop was quiet entering the little New London flat. Way past the kids' bedtime.

Suzanne tiptoed to the door and gave her smelly Mandalorian husband a big hug. (Cockpits are sweaty places)

Billy held his wife by the hands, then gestured at his new shoulder patch. "We're going to need a larger place. Can't have a Consul's wife and kids living in second class digs..."

Suzanne surpressed a delighted squeal, then held her husband tight. He said quietly, "You'll be glad to know that 75% of a consul's job is paperwork. Boring, tedious, safe paperwork."

She gave a satisfied sigh, then froze as the unspoken implication of this promotion came into her mind like a glass of cold water. She looked up at her husband, and asked "Who?.."

Billy gave a shh sound, then said with no small amount of emotion, "John Cabot left in the Goju Ryu today to fight and die in Kusari. Dha Piruna is Mandalore now."

Suzanne sighed, then asked "Did the Mandalore have a woman? Kids?"

Billy shook his head. "No. He had a Kusari wife, a long time ago, I was told. Kids, well, I don't know. Guess not."

Suzanne nodded slowly, then returned her head to her husband's chest. "Dha will do well.", she said.

Billy held his wife. "Yeah."

He held her tighter. "Both of them will."

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The Queen Carina's Regulars hanger # 14 was a bustle of activity, with technicians running around with parts, heavy weapons, ammunition, and tools that looked as deadly as the guns. The newly-minted Mandalorian Consul passed unnoticed in all the chaos.

"What lousy security." thought Billy. Nobody had even asked to see the pass he carried in his plain black Mandalorian tunic.

"William Bloody Avery Bloody Bishop!!!" A once very-familiar voice boomed out behind him. Billy spun around and easily recognised the source.

"Commander Kaiden!" Billy laughed. Other men in the room looked alarmed at the words and glanced over. Billy picked up the subtle hints, and corrected himself. "Excuse me sir, Commodore!"

Kaiden laughed. "No problem. Its been awhile since I had that rank. But then again, I haven't seen you in a while either. And I'll pay you back for demoting me by noticing you're getting bald."

"Heh, four kids will do that, Commodore."

Kaiden's eyes widened. "Four! Wow, Suzanne's been busy while you been in the cockpit, eh?"

Billy's eyes narrowed in a mock threatening look, but his grin gave him away. "Good one, ya bastid. Haven't heard a quick one like that since the SF days."

The staff around were amazed now, by this Mandalorian that could get away with calling the Commodore "bastid". One of the techies got into it and piped up, "SF. What did that stand for anyway? Semper Fi?"

The Commodore and Consul gave the poor dolt looks that would have withered Medusa, and the hapless mechanic muttered an apology under his breath and got really really into his work, all of a sudden.

Kaiden gestured to Bishop to follow him away from the main activity. Once out of earshot, Kaiden said, under his breath. "I heard about your promotion. Congratulations." He moved in closer.

"But this Mandalorian consul isn't here for a social call, is he?"

Billy said "No, I'm here on business." He handed a letter from the Ministry of Defence to the Commodore.

Kaiden read it, murmuring. "Mandalorians... authorised... surplus equipment.. contract with the Crown.. payment in kind.. until deemed inexpedient.."

Kaiden looked up. "Right. We have more ships than pilots, you have more pilots than ships. Straightforward enough. What do you want?"

Billy smiled. "I'm easy to please. Just wanna drive a Templar again. One that's broken in. Damn things have too many bugs in the first 10,000,000 kilometres."

Kaiden looked at Billy for a long while before answering. "You know, I think I have just the thing. Follow me."

The Commodore led Billy to one of the back corners of the hanger. A mechanic was working on an engine component back there, and Kaiden shooed him away. He stood back, arms folded, and gestured in the direction of an older model Templar in the corner.

"Check her out." Kaiden encouraged him.

Billy walked around the Templar. She was old, but very well maintained. Not many scars, really. A lot of little enemy ships were painted up near the cockpit. Wolfhounds, Titans, Praetorians, lots of Chimaeras, even some enemy gunboats.

"Man, this little baby has been around. Even got a couple of lunchbo..." Billy's voice had stopped dead in shock. There was a name by the cockpit.

Captain Isaac Brock.

Billy jumped back from the ship, then asked Kaiden, none too happily, nor quietly:

"How? This is a dead man's boat! I read the newspapers, for God's sakes!"

Kaiden interrupted him. "The old man had two. That way one was always ready for duty. This one..", Kaiden nodded at the little ship, "was his luckier one. Or so he once said to me. Man, was he ever right about that."

Kaiden continued. Billy needed a hell of a lot of convincing on this one. "Look, Bill, nobody here will drive it. Nobody. They just can't bring themselves to. So its sitting here gathering dust. When it should be out there fighting."

The Commodore sat on a bench. "Billy, you left the armed forces for the Mandalorians before Brock got transferred to QCR. None of our boys will drive this ship, period. You never knew Brock. No such baggage for you."

"And this bird should be used the way you Mandalorians do. Deep behind enemy lines. Getting Corsairs and Kusari out of their bunks, then killing the hell outta them. That, my old friend, is precisely what the old man would have wanted. All I ask is, keep those enemy birds painted on that hull. And add more of them too, cover the bloody wings with them. I remember how you fly. You can do that for her."

"Unless", added Kaiden in a mocking tone, eyebrows raised, "You've lost your touch, rather push paper.."

Billy smiled at the Commodore. "That was right transparent, you know.." He turned to look at the bird again, then circled her slowly.

After a while, Billy stopped, looked at Kaiden, and asked, "Well? We going to haggle on price now? I'm gonna have to be stingy. You don't know our banker."

Kaiden smiled, then gave that ancient, characteristic flat handed Bretonian salute,

"Yes sir, Consul, sir! I'll throw in extra tires and an oil change. I'll have to talk to my manager about a deal though.."

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