Saga of the Bridgers-Year 4

Chapter 1: Saving a Count

Indeed, the morning after, it was Ezra's turn to prove his ability by dueling with Tristan and other warriors in the training hall, both with melee weapons and hand-to-hand combat.

The first one he won easily, being accustomed to the lightsaber. The second was harder. With Tristan, it was a draw, other times he managed to win, only a couple of older warriors managed to outsmart him. Ezra was used to fight in such a way only against stormtroopers, who weren't exactly specialists of fistfights. He had trained with Jaral, Sabine, Jordan and even Karg and other Marines of the Constantinople, but simple training was different from fighting for real.

Nonetheless, his ability and his spirit impressed the clan favorably, to the point that nobody frowned upon him and Ursa gave her official blessing for an engagement between him and Sabine. Still, Ezra insisted that there would be no marriage until they rescued the Count, Alrich Wren.

Which was about to happen. For the next three days, Jaral worked tirelessly, having Ursa and Rau update her on every possible detail about the civil war and whatever intel they had about Alrich.

She was put in contact with the leaders of other clan of House Viszla, which still retained some kind of contact despite their House had been shattered decades ago.

Meanwhile, Ezra and Sabine led joint exercises between the Marines and the warriors of clan Wren, so that both parties could learn how their allies operated and improve the coordination for the upcoming battles. It was immediately clear that the Marines were less mobile, since only the Legionnaires carried a jetpack, but they still carried a wide variety of weapons, allowing them for greater firepower and even to fortify a position rapidly. Their vehicles also granted for precious fire support, that the Mandalorians, having been almost entirely demilitarized from the Republic first, and the Empire later, severely lacked.

In the meantime, on December 28, the INS Ravenna also visited the planet, bringing the Constantinople the replacements for its losses: three human Marines joined the crew, and the Fleet had also sent a squad of four N7 operatives, some of the best soldiers of the Milky Way, aside from the Legionnaires. These guys were specialized in fighting behind enemy lines and to win even against entire enemy formations.

Jaral decided they would be immediately put to work and had clan Wren provide them a safe passage to Mandalore, at the main base of the resistance movement that was opposing the Empire on the planet.

Finally, on January 2 2224, the Constantinople transported its crew and its allies to Mandalore. When the ship came out of hyperspace, the situation looked grim, as there were dozens of Star Destroyers and other imperial ships blocking every spaceport.

But hey, the Mandalorians were able to bypass the blockade regularly, so the Constantinople and its shuttles, which were equipped with a cloaking device that made invisible to radars, certainly didn't have any problem.

Thus, Jaral, Ezra and Sabine mounted on one of the shuttles, along with a mix of Marines and Wren warriors, while Jordan, Ursa and Tristan went on the other one and, while the Constantinople waited in orbit, the shuttle brought the allied forces across the stratosphere and headed toward the coordinates given by the N7 squad, which was named 'Noble Team'.

During the traverse, the siblings had the chance to observe how much of a desolate wasteland Mandalore actually was. Beneath them there was only an expanse of dried and dead soil, with a color similar to that of sand.