Kell had never been the major gear-head of the group. In fact his daughter was always a far better mechanic than he ever was. But he had to handle this on his own for a change. Sitting upon a stump he had removed several of the armor plates from his leg, fully revealing the mechanical replacement where his right leg once stood some years ago. The sniper began checking connections and gears as best he could on his own leg.

“Whoa, your leg, it’s…” Glancing up from his work he found a rather shocked looking Rainbow Dash.

Snickering a bit, he continued his work, “Yup, lost my real one to a nasty land mine, vaporized my right leg and one of my wee boys.”

“Did… did it hurt?” She carefully asked as she moved for a better look at the mechanical limb.

“Happened too fast to really feel it - all I heard was a click under my boot, next thing I know I’m on my back staring at the sky and vod’s screaming at me to keep my eyes open.” Kell continued on as he tightened a few gyros.

“Do you ever miss having the real thing?” She asked, shivering at the thought of going through the same ordeal.

“Ya know, sometimes I miss having a flesh and blood leg.” Kell stated sullenly, “Then I break someone’s rib cage with a gravity pulse kick and I’m happy again. Between you an' me, I miss the testicle more.”

She watched him continue his work in silence for a moment, fighting for the courage to ask what was really on her mind, “There’s something that’s been bugging me… and I need somepony who’s not gonna sugar coat it for me.”

Kell was already reattaching the armor plates to his leg, “Don’t leave me in suspense babe, what’s on your mind?”

Rainbow dug into herself deeply as she forced her eyes to meet Kell’s, “Back at the ruins, somepony took a shot at me and missed by barely a hair… he didn’t miss on purpose did he?”

Kell got to his feet as he gave the leg a few test motions, “Nope, you and your friends are on their hit list same as us, now.”

His casual and nonchalant tone about the ordeal only fed the now growing fire and anger in her gut as it spilled out through her eyes, “Why… Why are they doing this? What’d any of us do to them?”

“Because they can,” Kell stated as he began gathering up his tools, “They see you as smaller and weaker, they have weapons they don’t believe you can match or stand up against. Not to mention a ship in orbit just dying to start bombarding your world. Sad fact is, that’s how the galaxy works sometimes, kiddo. But I wouldn’t worry too much about it.”

“Oh yeah - what’s not to worry about?” Rainbow said sarcastically, “Besides some jerks from space deciding at any second to blow everypony I know away.” She exclaimed through bared teeth.

Kell kneeled down to bring himself eye level with her. A glint in his eye accentuated the blood thirsty grin on his face, “’Cause they ticked us off, and we ain’t about to leave till we kill every last one of them.”

Dash felt herself take an unconscious step back from the malicious marksman, “That’s… uh, that’s good to know. I think I’m gonna go get some shut eye, nice talking with ya Kell.”

Kell withheld the urge to laugh as he watched Rainbow trot off to join the majority of the group by the fire, “What a sweet girl, she’d make a good Mando if she could harness that rage.”

Within the ship itself, Kad, Torb and Luna discussed the battles to come while examining a holographic readout of the city of Canterlot. The Princess surprised the hardened officers of Epsilon with her tactical knowledge, “The majority of Teth’s forces hath taken to the inner city, whilst a small collection of personal guards move freely about the castle grounds. My sister does what she can to keep his hoo- pardon me, his hands tied. But I fear her efforts are in vain.”

Kad rotated the hologram to the mountainside, “A stealth team could use this overhang, use rappellin’ equipment an’ scale up the side, get into the palace from the rear.”

“All well and good, Captain, but their efforts will be for not if we don’t make a large enough scene to draw them all out.” Torb pointed out as he shifted the image to the main streets of the city, “The main thoroughfare is too wide open though - we’d be walking into a slaughter.”

“Well Torb, that’s why we do what we do best,” Kad said with a playful smirk, “We improvise.”

From the shadows of the craft came a guttural snarl, “And just how limited will we be ourselves?” All eyes shifted to the Taung reclining in one of the pilot’s chairs, a bottle of strong scented liquid in one hand.

“Traycn, I can’t but feel ya got somein’ you wanna get off your chest.” Kad took a few fearless steps towards the lounging behemoth.

A sneer came across Traycn’s face as he leaned forward, “Did your POWERS tell you that?” He chided him as he took another long drink, “You’re right Alor’ad, I have a few qualms with how you’ve been handling things.”

Kad’s eyes narrowed on the drunken Sergeant, “Well now, don’t keep me in suspense.”

“You’re holding us back.” Traycn stated bluntly as he took another hit from the bottle, “We could easily wipe these enemies off the precious little blue and green orb, yet you want to sit and plan like this rock matters to you.”

“Ain’t our world Tray, no sense turnin’ it to ash.” Kad pointed out.

The Taung began to laugh hysterically, an action that left Luna feeling a bit put off, “Or maybe the cute cuddly locals have made you soften, Alor’ad - maybe you don’t deserve that title anymore. Maybe we should refer to you as Jetii?”

Kad snatched the bottle from his metallic grip and greedily drank down the remainder of its contents, “It’s clear you ain’t much for talkin’ Tray, so why don’t we just get this over with?”

“Thought you’d never ask… Captain!” Metal knuckles connected with no remorse to Kad’s chest, sending him flying through the air and out the back of the shuttle.

Kad rolled head over heels to a stop several yards from the shuttle. Shaking his head clear he pulled himself back to his feet, “Everybody gets one, Tray… everybody gets one.”

The commotion drew everyone’s attention to the red giant thundering his way out of the ship, “This has been coming for a long time, Jetii. Do you have any idea how frustrating it has been to take your orders? I am the genetic clone of a conqueror, my progenitor slew your ancestors with his bare hands, and now you have the gall to order me around!”

Kad smirked from ear to ear as he dusted himself off, “Come on, Tray, tell me how ya really feel.” He called out sarcastically, with arms spread wide.

With a rage filled roar, he charged forward with a wide gaping swing. The augmentations beneath the armor plates and shell poured all their power into his limbs as they sought to end his target’s life. Kad’s speed being far greater gave the smaller warrior an out from the attack as he dove past Traycn and rolled to his feet behind him.

Traycn’s blow connected with the tree Kad had been standing in front of. A shower of splintered wood filled the air as his blow cut through the trunk with ease, toppling it over. Frustration began to take hold on Traycn’s actions as he turned with another wide swing that just scarcely missed its mark. Kad could feel the rushing wind of the blow as he jumped back to a safe distance.

The commotion had drawn everyone’s attention to Traycn’s angered fueled assault on his commanding officer. All save for Arkanna, still gripped by sleep and held there fast by Kad’s small application of the force, the young Private continued to snooze soundly by the fire. Still snuggled up to Fluttershy who watched the fight unfold, frozen in terror, made it all the more difficult to move - if she could - with Arkanna’s arm wrapped around her.

“What in the hay is going on, why are they fighting!?” A panicked Twilight Sparkle demanded as she watched the larger slower Traycn bound through obstacle after obstacle that the faster Kad positioned between the two of them.

Zex placed a hand on her back to keep her calm, “Relax and watch, the Captain’s just reinforcing his position as leader.”

“What are you talking about? We need to help him! That massive monster’ll tear him apart!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she readied herself to charge in. A blaster bolt cutting through the air and striking the ground in front of her drained all the confidence she had.

Kell sat on his stump rifle leveled with the group and a small plume of smoke wafting from the barrel, “No one interferes - vod has this under control.”

“Stop running and fight me you Jetii hut’uun!” Traycn fumed as he smashed yet another large rock into dust. Kad’s speed had always given him trouble in spar sessions, and in this swampy terrain it was even worse. His cybernetic enhancements gave him pure unadulterated strength to force his way through the muck and mud, but it slowed his charge to a crawl.

“I don’t need the Force to take you on, ya ast’ehut di’kut!” Kad called out as he side-stepped another would-be fatal blow. He knew this fight was serious, and all his opponent needed was one blow to end his life, but it was hard not to find this fun, “Maybe if I stood still, ya might be able to catch up!”

Traycn had suffered this long enough. Looking to the side he spotted a sizable boulder at his feet. If he couldn’t get Kad to stand and fight him seriously, then he could at least make him regret it. Metal digits gripped the coarse surface as gyros beneath the surface turned and wined in anger as the massive stone was hoisted into the air.

Kad’s eyes narrowed on the Taung as he began to suspect his intentions, “Traycn, don’t do somethin’ you’re gonna regret.”

Without a word, the behemoth sneered back at him as he quickly reeled the boulder back and let it fly. The target however wasn’t Kad, but rather the lightly defended pair of ponies and unfortunately Zex as well.

Kad pulled himself deep into the Force, letting it surge through his entire body and shift his perspective of the world to a slow crawl. Fully immersed within the power, he reached out, letting it take hold of the stone as it inched towards his comrades. Feeling it in his grasp he yanked back on it, forcing it to make an about-face and sending it careening back to Traycn.

Still brimming with confidence, the Taung slammed his fist into the rock, shattering it into a fine powder mist that filled the air around him. This quickly faded, as through the dust Kad rushed up to him with a rapid volley of strikes aimed at his unprotected head. Traycn’s rage built to a boil, creating a buffer between him and any pain Kad intended to inflict. Letting loose a loud roar, he swung his metal arms in a wide arc towards the ground in hopes of crushing his opponent.

Kad stepped back from this blow and let it slam into the swampy mud and muck. Reaching out through the Force once more, he summoned a knife to his hand from its boot sheath, the blade crackling to life with a bright blue electric energy in his hand. Moving quickly, he used Traycn’s arms as stepping stones to bring himself face to face with the angry brute. Without any hesitation Kad plunged the blade through the open collar of the armor and into Traycn’s shoulder.

Traycn let out a roar of pain as the electricity shot through his body. He could feel the surging energy jump from augment to augment, tearing into him and through his entire body. The Taung could feel himself shutting down as his arms now refused to move - as did the rest of his body. Close to a full ton of metal and armor weighed down in the mud as smoke drifted from his body.

Kad stared into eyes of his opponent; they showed no feeling of remorse, no regret for his actions. Defiance was all he could see as he looked into Traycn. Taking a step back, Kad took in a deep breath to calm himself and control his urge to take his saber and simply end the creature. Instead, he reeled himself back and snapped a kick into his face, pouring quite a bit of force energy behind the blow to throw what little balance was left in the brute and send him onto his back in the mud.

Silence gripped the campsite as Kad stood over top of Traycn, “I wanna make this clear,” He looked over everyone assembled, “This ain’t our world, but Deathwatch is OUR mess, an’ we ain’t leavin’ till we clean it up! I ain’t sufferin’ a dissension in the ranks, so any o’ ya want out, now is the time, ‘cause the next man who turns on me is a corpse.”

Kell hopped off his spot on the stump and strode over to his brother, smiling proudly, “You know you got me at your back vod.” He stated placing a hand on his shoulder.

Zex shook his head with a chuckle, “Like I’d ever follow Traycn’s lead, sir.”

“This whole squad would fall apart without me to guide it Captain, afraid you’re stuck with me as well.” Torb stated as he looked over the mess Traycn had made.

“No more marmalade, please…” Arkanna mumbled in his sleep.

“I think that means yes, maybe.” Fluttershy muttered with a nervous smile.

“And thou hath earned my support as well, Captain Skirata.” Luna stated as she trotted towards him, “I believe I hath seen more than enough to measure thine character, Captain. Thou art a warrior of honor and conviction, thou art what our world will need to weather the coming storm. I hath been told that thine people are known for acting as soldiers of fortune - if thou will accept, I wish to hire thee.”

Kad raised his brow in surprise as he glanced over his shoulder at Kell who wore a look of surprise as well, “We’re flattered your highness, but ya should know Mandalorians ain’t cheap to hire.”

A coy smirk came across the Princess’s face at the mention of payment, “Rest assured good Captain Skirata, the treasury of Equestria shall provide ample payment to thee.”

Kad took a second to see the looks of approval among his men before answering her, “A’right then your highness, you just hired Mandalorians. Your cause is now our own an’ your enemies our targets.”

Luna gave a bow of her head to them happily, “Excellent, consider thine selves members of the Lunar Guard as of this moment.”

Kad’s attention moved back to the still fuming Traycn stuck on his back in the mud. Placing a foot on his chest plate, Kad leaned in close to him, “Ya hear that? Now we’re hired - we got ample reason to help these folks now.” With very little care he yanked the knife out of Traycn’s shoulder with a quick pull, “I’ma want my knife back. When your pieces reset I want ya off your lazy sheb and preppin’ my new shuttle for takeoff. Let’s try not to have this conversation again, you copy Tray?”

With much reluctance the Taung finally breathed out between his bared teeth, “I copy… Alor’ad… I will follow you.”

Luna watched him hop off the beast’s chest, “Art thou certain he can be trusted?”

“Would ya rather I execute him your highness? We’re your men now, after all.” Kad asked as he leveled his wrist mounted blaster with Traycn’s head.

“Nay, I do not wish you to end his life needlessly!” Luna exclaimed in shock.

“How do ya like that vode, a noble who’s actually noble.” Lowered his weapon with a smile, “I wouldn’t worry ‘bout Tray’s loyalty ma’am, he just needed to be reminded who’s in charge.”

Traycn would be stuck on his back for the next hour, staring up at the night sky. The hole in his shoulder hurt and his augmentations burned and smoldered inside him. He could feel them starting to run their restart sequence. At least the booze running through his veins was dulling the pain, but wasn’t helping his pride.

Kell leaned over him with his trademark smirk, “Hey big guy, how ya feeling?”

The Taung snarled at him as he imagined his metallic digits tearing through flesh and bone like flimsy. To see the arrogant sniper torn to shreds at his hands would certainly make this night seem a lot better.

“Just so ya know, next time you try take my brother down like that, I’m gonna open a new air hole in your dome.” He stated flatly as he probed the side of Traycn’s head with the muzzle of his weapon, “I’m always watching you, Tray - always.”