When his shift came to an end Kad couldn’t be happier. The fatigue from the whole ordeal had finally started to settle on him. His mind and muscles ached for a rest of any kind as he took a seat against a stone pillar near the small fire his comrades had made.

He could still feel those eyes upon him as he settled in for the night. No matter how hard he tried to focus on where it was coming from it only pushed him farther away. Glancing up at the full moon over head he could feel another presence. This one was a bit more welcoming and reassuring. It filled him with a slight calmness about the current hopples looking situation.

Wrapping his cloak around him he closed his eyes and let sleep take over at long last. As he drifted off a harsh wind began to blow through the ruins. It began growing in intensity howling and ripping through the building. Soon everything it touched starting turning to dust and was cast away. All around Kad the world was being blown away and turned into a swirling mass of dust and debris even his comrades were ground away leaving nothing behind.

Just as suddenly as the storm appeared it vanished, leaving Kad alone in a barren waste of coarse sand and rocks the sky around him was an empty pitch black. With a grunt he got to his feet and surveyed the new location. Far in the distance sat a large darkened temple. A soft blue glow came from within it as an all too familiar voice drifted over the wind, “Mandalorian, come forth.”

With some reluctance Kad began the trek towards the only real landmark in this entire sand blasted waste. Time seemed to stretch for an eternity as the landscape never changed not even a sign of whether it was day or still night. As he pushed forward he ventured a glance back only to see that his footprints were coving themselves over returning the sand to its’ undisturbed state.

Finally Kad reached the steps of this strange temple, “Come Mandalorian,” The voice upon the wind beckoned him. He could hear it clearer now this close to the temple. It was old and withered yet somehow it hid strength behind this rasp. Within the temple seemed somehow to have grown twice in size. Massive stone columns flanked either side of the entrance, strange lamps floated from them giving off an eerie blue light, leading to a raised dais where a solitary figure sat in meditation. He appeared human at first glance though clearly far taller. His form was thin and lean with deep seeded wrinkles over his features. Long snow white hair and beard hung from him like the simplistic robes around him, it reminded Kad of how the few Jedi he had met tended to dress.

Slowly and quietly he inched his way towards this ancient man. Once he was a foot away the eyes of the elderly creature sprang open revealing solid black orbs that looked very much like a star dotted night sky, “Man of Mandalore, why have you come here?” Kad could see his mouth move but that voice still seemed to ring in his head.

“Ya called for me remember… where ever here is.” Kad muttered the last half under his breath.

A single hand was held up in Kad’s direction when it did a blinding pain shot through his body dropping him to his knees, “Do not patronize me child. Now why have you come to this world?”

As the pain subsided Kad could feel his wits returning, “Haar’chak… we didn’t come here by choice, our ship crash landed!” He managed to pull himself into a sitting position, “We couldn’t leave if we wanted to.” Kad’s eyes narrowed with this being, “Now, you tell me, who or what the haran ya are!?”

It regarded Kad like a school master to a child seeking answers beyond his faculties, “Who and what I am, are beyond the limited comprehensions of your mongrel kind. I am a being comprised purely of the Force. This world you have stumbled upon is under my watch. If you must name me then you may know me as the Guardian.” The Guardian stroked its beard as he sized up the Mandalorian.

“Guardian, my brothers an’ I have no intentions’a staying on this world longer than we have to. But our ship was destroyed in the crash.” Kad continued to plead their case.

“I know of your plight and I know of those you bring in your wake. Those whom will rain death upon this world destroying all that they touch in their selfish quest for power.” As the Guardian spoke cracks began to appear on the stonework, “Your blundering has doomed this world!”

Kad watched as pillars and walls began to crumble around them, falling away to leave a war torn field smoldering with the wreckage of blasted homes. The sound of roaring engines drew him to the sky where the frigate from before hung motionless as if sitting on the clouds of smoke. Movement at his feet drew his gaze to a small form caked in ash and char as it weakly reached out towards him, “Okay, we screwed up, I get it! What can we do to fix it?”

Slowly the world began to return to normal, “Man of Mandalore, you and your kin brought war to this world. Your task will be a simple one. Face the coming storm and stop them. This world cannot fall to these invaders.”

One skeletal digit touched Kad’s forehead, upon contact he found himself back in the ruins. Around him his brothers slept as Arkanna kept watch near the entrance. Pulling the cloak tighter around him Kad tried to will himself back to sleep.

Night passed with little to no incident. A thick fog had settled on the area obscuring much of the ruins. From a high tower to the rear of the structure Kell sat scanning the area from the scope of his rifle, his helmet sat on the ground near his feet. On the windowsill was perched a piping hot cup of caf. From behind his weapon he focused intently on what looked like the vague silhouette of rooftops.

Taking a bored sip from his glass he continued to scan over the area a bit more before tapping the spare com on his wrist, “Looks like we might just have company after all.” Part of him was tempted to see if he could score a hit from all the way back here on a weathervane, “I can see what looks like a settlement near the edge of the forest, can’t make out any specific numbers from back here.”

“Nicely done Kell,” Torbs’ voice came in over the coms, “Pack it in and come on down.”

Kell finished off his caf as he looked out over the distance, a mischievious grin etched over his face as he checked the silencer at the end of his rifle, “Roger that blue boy…” Bringing the stock to his shoulder it was a simple task to bring that tempting target back into his sights. A quickly adjustment here and a shift in the angle, “Packing it in…” His finger eased back the trigger sending a bolt of energy silently flying over the tree tops. He eagerly kept his eye trained on it until finally it sparked and spun rapidly.

Scooping his helmet up Kell quickly made his way down the spiral stairs to the rest of the group. The fire had been kept alive as a pot of the boiling liquid simmered beside a few cooking protein bars. Around the fire the rest of the team busied themselves with either breakfast or double checking gear. Kell poured himself another cup of caf as he glanced over at Kad who looked a bit ragged, “Ner’vod, you look like this swill tastes.”

Kad forced a smile, “Bad dreams, you’re lookin’chipper. What’d ya do?”

Kell merely smirked as he sipped on his drink.

To the side of the group the Torb worked diligently on a circuit board, a holographic readout floated before him, “I believe we should make contact with the local settlement.”

“Hah, I’m gonna get me some local babes!” Kell happily chimed in with.

Torb kept his attention focused between the readout and the board, “I suggest a diplomatic approach with this.”

“What’re ya thinkin’?” Kad asked between sips of caf.

“Simple, we don’t go in with the obscenely big guns… until they give us a reason, that is.” Torb gave a knowing smirk at the mention of this last part

The sun was making its climb into the noon day sky when the small force from Epsilon made their way through the forest. Zex, Kad and Arkanna had taken the task of reaching the local settlement.

“Boy, this sure is great!” Arkanna stated loudly in a sarcastic tone, “Never did anything like this with my old squad.”

“Rookie, would ya shut your trap…” Kad was steadily losing patients with him.

“Crash landing on an uncharted planet full who knows what, nope never done anything like this before!” Arkanna spat out as they marched on.

“Hey Rookie, how’d ya end up in Epsilon squad again?” Kad happily asked.

“At least when I crashed that cargo transport there was a spaceport on the planet!” Arkanna declared loudly.

With an annoyed sigh Zex moved away from the two muttering about giving up his life as a doctor for this. Something on his HUD’s motion tracker drew his attention though, “Hey guys.” The two seemed focused on their argument and coming close to blows. Zex had no patience for any of this as he delivered a swift smack to the back of their helmets, “Hey, knock it off and check your scopes!”

Sure enough each one of them finally noticed the same thing, “What in the Force… that is a really big blip.” Arkanna stated, “Think it’s your buddy from yesterday?”

Kad shook his head, “Couldn’t be Stephen, rivers’ in the other direction.”

Arkanna tilted his head in a confused fashion, “The river monster is named Stephen?”

Kad ignored him, “Better go check it out.”

“Yeah let’s head TOWARDS the massive blip on the motion tracker, I’m sure nothing bad could come of that.” Arkanna blurted out in his usual sarcastic tone.

The trio covered the ground quickly enough coming to a rocky outcrop overlooking a meadow. The life of a Mandalorian normally prepares you for just about anything and any situation but what they saw in the valley below was never covered in boot camp. A massive five headed reptilian beast stomped a path of destruction as it chased down three oddly colored four legged creatures. What made it truly odd was the fact that the three smaller ones were screaming in, “Is that basic? Are those little things yelling in galactic basic?” Arkanna voiced everyone else’s thoughts.

“Haar’chak, we can’t just stand here and let ‘im get eaten.” Kad stated as he took his saber from his belt.

“Why can’t we? Standing here is looking really safe.” Arkanna quickly pointed out. As he looked his comrades in the visor he let out a sigh, “We’re not gonna stay here are we?”

Kad took him by the collar and pulled him visor to visor, “This ain’t up for discussion, we’re out here lookin’ for locals an’ we just found ‘im in trouble. We’re goin’ down there and we’re killin’ that thing. Now if you are done complainin’ like a frightened moisture farmer then why don’t you start acting like a Mandalorian! You copy?”

Arkanna nodded his head, “Loud and clear, sir!”

“If you two are done acting like a pair of kath hounds in heat…” Zex chided them as he readied his carbine.

The descent was a swift slide down the side of the rock wall. Once down they split into two groups to out flank the beast. Kad kept to the underbrush as he moved around the outside of the incident. On his HUD he could see the icons pointing out the progress of his comrades. Closer now he could make out clearly these odd quadrupeds as they ran for their lives. They reminded him of beasts of burden he’d seen on many other worlds but these ones were smaller at only four feet on all fours.

Stranger still was the coloration of these creatures. One was a bright orange with large green eyes as well as a blonde mane and tail combo and what looked to be a wide brimmed hat and what looked picture of fruit on the flank. The second was pure white with dark blue eyes, a purple mane and tail that looked to be expertly styled and a diamond pattern. The third looked to be flying? Sure enough it was airborne and kept aloft by a pair of small feathered wings the cyan hue of its coat coupled with the rainbow stripes of the mane and tail. From the sound of their voices it was clear they were each females respectively.

One of the hungry mouths of razor sharp teeth pulled back and lunged at the scampering prey heading straight for the white one. Thankfully the maw missed the target, slamming into the ground and sending the would-be snack hurtling through the air and skidding to a stop several yards away. A smirk came across Kad’s face as he saw the other two make a fast about face to defend their friend. The flier quickly striking one of the heads with her back hoof before zipping around to harass the other heads, “Kandosii, these things have some fight in them!” Kad’s joyous praise was cut short when the flyer was snatched from the air by a vicious maw that gave her a violent shake before sending the sky blue creature hurtling into a tree. A cold lump formed in the pit of his stomach as the brave little creature slid to the ground. Digging deep into the force, Kad focused the energy through his muscles to propel himself faster.

The orange one had placed herself between the monster and her comrade. As the flyer was tossed aside like a ragdoll a look of shock dawned on her. The hulking beast loomed over them, it gleefully eyed its meal as green eyes glared defiantly back. She dug her hooves deep into the dirt as she braced herself for the inevitable fight. One vicious head reared back and lunged at them, ready to gobble down the treat.

Kad finally managed to reach the besieged four legers, igniting his saber as he closed in on the target. A blade of golden energy sprung from the hilt. Still dipping into the Force the Mandalorian warrior was able to launch himself over them and head long at a tooth-filled maw. His blade delivered a swift blow across the face of the monster sending it reeling in surprise and howling in pain. Kad now stood between the beast and its prey, blade ready to strike again.