Camouflage slows to a stop and allows the Mandalorian to climb into the sidecar. He's curious as to the new Jedi's story, but figures it's best to wait.

Camouflage and Kain hang back, with Ker'see taking point, occasionally speeding ahead to scout before slowing down and rejoining the group. Mireska and Jorin round out the loose formation, flanking the VIP's bike at a distance, but staying within sight. Camouflage keeps his head on a swivel, carefully watching for any sign of droid reinforcements, but Ker'see's Force-sight abilities render this exercise rather moot. Not fully trusting Force abilities, Camouflage does it anyway.

The half-hour trip goes without incident and only minimal chatter, and they arrive back at the GAR garrison in relatively good order. Once they drop off the bikes, they head to the command center to check in with Commander Cody.

Kain nods at the trooper.

”Thank you trooper.”

He says, before he looked off at the distance, scanning their surroundings.

Once they reached the base, he slid out, groaning as he cracked his joints, wincing from his crash injuries.

"Thank you for the use of the BARCs," Mireska said to Spanner and his team when she returned the speederbike.

She then walked over to the new Jedi Knight, furrowing her brow when she noticed his strained movements.

"I was about to suggest that we check in with the Command Centre, but do you want the medical check-up first? We have both mundane and Force-assisted healing available."

"Nayc, if all goes according to plan this won't take long, I'll be aboard a Venator before the day is out and can soak in a bacta tank. Let's go see your commander."

Cody is there, as always, when they enter and moves to greet them. Before he can say anything, the Mandalorian raises a hand. "Let's dispense with the pleasantries, I don't have the time. Jedi Knight Shin Ethan is urgently needed and is to return with me at once. Alert him of this and have a fighter prepared for his immediate use if he does not have one in working order, and have one prepared for me. We leave in thirty minutes."

"Yes sir, right away sir." Commander Cody immediately begins carrying out the Mandalorian Jedi's orders.

Kain turns back to the others, "I came personally because you ran into a certain 'Mandalorian' bounty hunter. I have no time to deal with it now (and indeed he may be long gone), but I have been collating information for a time now and decided to follow up since I had reason to come already. Anything you can give me would be appreciated."

"Then you want to speak with Ker'see," Mireska replied, gesturing towards the Devaronian woman. "She's had the most intense encounters with him, stealing each other's weapons and the like."

"Sounds romantic."

Mireska coughs in startlement.

"I don't know how Mandalorians view such things, but she's not at all happy with him."

He tilts his head at Mireska, "That was sarcasm. Among Mandalorians, the voluntarily exchange of personal weapons is sometimes used as a gesture of commitment, but is a rare practice except in the most ceremonial of circumstances given its practical drawbacks. Actually stealing a Mandalorian's weapon is not a great way of ingratiating yourself, and is likely to get you killed. Mandalorians have many ways of making you dead, and not all involve weapons."

"As far as Fett is concerned, some of those ways apparently involve alliances with the CIS and hiring additional bounty hunters for assistance," Mireska said. "We still have one of his bounty hunters waiting for an in-depth interrogation."

Kain nods, "Then I'll take him with me."

He looks over his shoulder at Cody, "Commander, better make that a shuttle for us. We'll be transporting a prisoner."

Cody complies, but he is starting to get slightly exasperated with the newcomer.

"If this Fett crosses my path again I can't guarantee a warm body," adds Ker'see darkly as she strokes the head of The Duchess. "His skills warrant a heavy hand in combat and I'll ensure it's my choice of battlefield next time."

He shrugs, "Fine by me. Did anyone take notes you can transfer, or will one of you give me an oral account?"

Jorin stepped forward, handing over a datastick. I took some notes from what I remember from the encounter.. This is a copy of the final report sent to the Council.

"Vor'e, Padawan." He accepts the datastick and slips it into a belt pouch. "Unless there is anything else, I'll go pursue relocating the prisoner."

Twenty-five minutes later, right on schedule, Kain Eldar boards the shuttle with Shin Ethan and the prisoner in tow. He salutes the Jedi and clone trooper who came to see him off and says, "Ret'uryce mhi. May the Force be with you."

With that, the boarding ramp closes and he checks that the prisoner is sufficiently restrained before taking his place in the pilot's seat.

The Nu-class Attack Shuttle departs the GAR garrison base and departs for parts unknown, doing its best to avoid any Separatist air patrols en route.

That afternoon, after her usual rounds at Medical, Mireska visited the gyms in search of some open floor space for her katas. She was determined to start brushing up on the various forms, particularly Niman and Shien.

At least I won't have to worry about Soresu, Makashi, or Shii-Cho. The CIS forces aren't fielding 'sabre-wielders against us, thank the Force!

As she got into the flow of the dance against her invisible opponents, she closed her eyes and practised reaching out with her Force-enhanced senses, first seeking, then tracking the movements of the other life forms around her.

Mireska sank even deeper into her moving meditation, then gradually became aware of a particularly insistant note in the Force around her. It felt vaguely familiar - and almost crystalline in nature.

That's strange. It's the same note that I heard just this morning. I wonder if the Force is trying to tell me something.

She opened her eyes as the final kata came to an end. Maybe another sunrise meditation tomorrow, in the crystal tree grove again. Hopefully I'll get a better idea of what's going on.

Jorin tentatively approached Ker'see's cabin door and knocked. Master? Jorin, called. It's Jorin.. sigh, of course she'll know it's me.. I'm the only Padawan here that would say 'master'... I was wondering if you could teach me that Saber throwing technique?

Ker'see greeted Jorin, and they walked to an empty section of the small airfield to limit any possibility of collateral damage if Jorin failed in an attempt to either throw, or recall his saber. First, they began with a crude mock-up of a saber made from a section of metal tube with a handle from a broom mounted inside. It gave a decent approximation of weight and balance of a real saber, but safe enough to not cause serious harm. They ran through some drills to get accustomed the the feel of their new weapons, Ker'see showing Jorin how better to parry an opponent and some tips on deflecting blaster bolts, in this case were small pebbles and bits of debris that Ker'see hurled at him at varied speeds using either a small slingshot or simply throwing. Jorin managed to get most of the projectiles, before being overwhelmed and repeatedly pelted as his concentration faltered.

Lastly, they worked on actual throwing their training sabers.. Ker'see explained that there was more to the technique than simply trowing and using the Force to call it back. Jorin had to maintain a hold on the saber through the Force. That way, you controlled the path the saber took to, and from the target. This also helped ensure that someone adept in the Force couldn't usurp control of the saber while in flight and use it for their purpose.

Jorin's first few attempts didn't go well, he felt the connection we had with his saber while it was in his hand disappear as soon as the weapon was released and the training saber spun wildly ricocheting along the ground or against any object in its way. Jorin took a breath and concentrated on maintaining the connection between himself and the weapon, slowly making progress, until he was able to hit a piece of debris off a wrecked LAATi.

Excellent job Padawan! Ker'see congratulated him. That will have to be all for today, we should return and have a meal...

Jorin looked up in confusion for a moment, before realizing the sun was setting and the lights of the compound had come on. Master, I didn't realize it was getting so late... Jorin began feeling the soreness in his shoulders and joints from the long practice session.

Ker'see waved away the apology. It was a good training session and you progressed very well Jorin.. The more time spent in training, or learning new skills is never a wasted effort.

Thank you Master Ker'see.. Jorin said with a bow. I will endeavor to follow that advice.

Following the training exercise with young Jorin Ker'see felt somewhat proud on the effect she had on another sentient. Training the The Duchess was one thing but other sentients was rewarding in a different way.

After the evening meal she meditated on the events and the clones that were assigned to her came into her mind...

She looked over to the Nexu who often shared her thoughts. "Maybe it's time I got to know the clones..."

As Jorin is finishing his training session with Ker'see, Camouflage and his men set off on a scouting mission, hoping to gather information about Separatist troop movements.

They take off on jetpacks, but land about a kilometer out from their first target, continuing on foot so as to move undetected. The darkness works to their advantage here and Camouflage leads the way, guiding them with his helmet's enhanced vision. They dodge a couple droid patrols and sneak past a few droid sentries, but none more than the ordinary for a droid landing zone. They enter a building that backs up next to the landing site and carefully pick their way to an upper floor. When they come into view of the landing site, they realize it's a bit more than just another drop-off point. Rows upon rows of droids, with columns of tanks behind, stand in parade ground formation in front of the Separatist command center. Four Octuptarra droids back up the formation, towering over the others.

Camouflage pulls back from the window and smiles grimly behind his helmet. "Looks like our plan worked! We got them all in one place." he quips. "Hawk, you see what I see? Look in the command center."

The clone sticks his head up and looks where his Lieutenant pointed, "You mean the tactical droid? He'd know what they’re planning, don't you think?"

Camouflage nods, and Havoc laughs quietly, "Now how to get him without getting got ourselves, right boss?"

Camouflage nods, "Yeah, that would be the problem… Hey wait a second, he's moving."

The tactical droid moves out of the command post and walks towards an AAT, his escort of six droids falling in behind him.

Camouflage chuckles, "This might be our answer. My guess is he's heading along Crystal Grove, they've got their major landing zone down that way. Come on, we’ve got to get away from here if we want to intercept. We'll take North Seventh street, it runs parallel."

They move quickly, but carefully, back through the building and out onto the street. Sure enough, Camouflage guessed right. The AAT moves along at a sedate pace, but still faster than the clones' walking speed. They wait for it to pass them, then kick on their jetpacks. Camouflage, Anakkona, and Fury fly directly towards the hatch on top of the tank and the others fire at the droids on the sponsons, jetting in close to get under the AAT's guns.

In the blink of an eye, they've scrapped the three on the near side of the tank and the others are on top of the turret. Camouflage and Fury blast the three on the far side as Anakkona fights to get the hatch open. He finally pops it open, only to have to dodge a shot from the droid's blaster and fall off the turret, landing on his brothers on the port side, knocking Ghost and Shadow off in a heap. Camouflage dives forward, grabbing the tactical droid's blaster he wrenches it out of its grip. Throwing it away, he grabs the head in both hands and rips it clean off the droid's body.

"Let's gogogo!" he yells, prize in hand. They all ignite their jetpacks, flying away before the droids inside the tank can bring the guns to bear.

Upon making it back to the base, they burst into the command center, surprising the few techs inside. Plunking the head down on the holotable, Camouflage starts plugging it in. "We need this decoded, ASAP. Get the commander."

The Clone trooper found Jorin meditating outside of the barracks next to a small crystal outcrop.

The trooper paused for a moment, unsure how to address the Jedi.. Jorin tilted his head slightly, Hello trooper Sid, is something wrong?

Sid straighten to attention, Commander, Lieutenant Camouflage conducted a scouting mission and returnereturnethe head of a Tactical droid.. He requested your presence in the Command Center as they decode the Droids processor.

Jorin's eyes snap open and he rose to his feet and followed Sid. Sid, when you where approaching, did you hear a kind of... singing?

Sir?.....

When Jorin approaches the command center, Ghost, who was posted outside the door and is surprised to see Jorin, makes a show of looking at an imaginary wrist-chrono and asks the young Jedi, "Isn't it a little past your bedtime, kid?"

Camouflage manages to break his gaze away from the readout as Jorin enters, and looks over his shoulder. I meant Cody, but this's fine. Didn't expect him to still be up .

He points to one of the techs, "Hey Breaker, see if you can get the generals and Cody, they'll want a look at this too." Turning back to Jorin, he hands his commander the datapad, still connected to the table and by extension the droid's head. "Looks like they're massing for an offensive. Droids, tanks, tri-droids, and even some unnamed 'person of interest.' Operation is lead by 'Whorm Loathsome' of the Retail Caucus. Kerkoidian. We're checking up on him now."

Anticipating the question, and guessing it might have been partly the cause of Jorin's late night, Camouflage raises a hand, "We're all fine, don't worry. Went off without a hitch and we grabbed a T-series droid's head." he jerks his thumb over his shoulder, drawing Jorin's attention to the severed head on the table. "Ambushed him en route and snatched it right out of the tank. Except for a few minor bumps and bruises, no casualties. Very lucky, really. Not sure what we'd have done if the clanker hadn't been about to leave anyway."

That evening after dinner, Mireska was staring at the two blasters lying on her desk. I forgot to pick up a weapon maintenance kit for them too. Not so strange, really, as I didn't expect to start amassing an armoury!

She turned to her comlink, and texted the necessary requisition order to the garrison's QM office. As she signed off, a priority alert came in from Breaker at the Command Centre. Noting the late hour, Mireska sighed.

A Jedi's work is never done.

She checked that her uniform was in order, and then hurried off in the direction of the Command Centre. When Mireska reached it, she raised an eyebrow at seeing Jorin still awake - and then the tactical droid's head lying on the table.

"I hope that you've found some useful information?"

Camouflage gestures to the datapad now in Jorin's hand, "See for yourself. The clankers are massing for an attack."

"Do we know numbers?" asks Ker'see as she walks in, The Duchess by her side. "Maybe we should prepare a preemptive attack... If we know the commander I could get in close and-" She shrugs her shoulder emphasizing her bow.