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Raanil considered accepting Kraaz's offer, but quickly dismissed the idea. Soaring through the air would certainly be less strenuous than climbing the hill, but he had to prove to his comrades that accepting a rookie for the mission had not been a mistake, and that he would not be a ball and...

Kraaz removed the helmet in a friendly gesture, trying to reassure the chiss. Beneath the helmet was what appeared to Raanil to be an albino human, with opalescent eyes and white hair. The more relaxed chiss removed his helmet in turn, showing his comrade-in-arms his dark blue skin furrowed with...

Raanil had had no idea what deathwatch was until a few days before. Van'Aria, his mentor, had never told him about it, and the chiss had gotten the feeling that the subject was somewhat taboo, from the comments he had received asking his comrades-in-arms. some claimed they were a group of...

The warriors fought amongst themselves. Swords of light clashed, throwing sparks into the ice tunnel. Much smaller, billions of figures tried to flee the clash, but the fighters did not even notice their pleas and cries of terror; In the heat of the clash they crushed them, as if they were...

Raanil considered for a few seconds taking advantage of Van'aria's sense of security to strike her by surprise. The thought, however, vanished from his mind as quickly as it had come: even if it might have secured him a victory, it would have come at the cost of his honour, which would have...

The strategy had partially worked. Raanil's slash had hit the Mandalorian on the armour, and the ringing produced by the collision with the beskar had reawakened interest in the surrounding vods. The chiss tried to keep his opponent on his good side, the one where his eye worked perfectly, but...

During the last couple of weeks, the citadel had been a hive of activity. Ships painted in the colours of numerous clans had arrived at the fortress by the dozens over the last few days. The roar of the engines passing over the crucible triggered excited murmurs from Raanil's fellow clansmen...

Over the next few weeks, Van'Aria kept her word, and personally taught her pupil the tricks of Mandalorian survival. Every morning, she waited for him still and sternly in front of his tent and accompanied him into the nature not far from the crucible. She taught him to recognise mushrooms and...

Raanil, despite his exhaustion, had had a restless night. his sleep had been filled with nightmares, populated by faceless warriors wielding swords of light against the backdrop of gigantic glaciers. A cacophony of explosions and cries of despair rumbled against the ice, which slowly melted...

The Black Crescent landed on the small landing platform of the Mandalorian camp, a series of training facilities, small buildings and rows of tents nestled in a gorge between the sharp ridges of a mountain. Casting a shadow over the entire camp was a gigantic fort studded with spires. Van'aria...

Van'Aria had not responded to the chiss' offer of transport. She had stared at him for a few moments from under her helmet, then turned without a word and disappeared in the sullust fumes, like a spectre. Raanil had thus reached his ship alone, a Nu-Class shuttle, crossing the ash desert...

Raanil wondered what he should expect from Mandalore. He knew it was a planet as hostile as its inhabitants, that its surface was rugged and furrowed with the scars of the countless invasions and civil wars it had suffered. The Chiss didn't know much about the galaxy in which he found himself...

It was done. The first step in his new life had been taken. Yet Raanil knew that the following steps would be those of a climber. Before he reached the halfway point, his hands would be peeled, his shoes shattered and his fatigue endless. The climb would be made slippery by sweat and blood. The...

Van'Aria for once answered directly to the chiss. The abruptness of her reply definitely hid the simple girl Raanil had glimpsed just before. However, despite the woman's apparent outburst, her next words seemed to confirm that she intended to take charge of his training, despite the fact that...

The woman never gave any indication about the correctness of Raanil's answers. Not a word, not a nod of denial, not a sign of assent. She would simply remain silent for long, interminable minutes and then ask the next question. After one of her silences, however, the Mandalorian opened up to...

Van'aria rose from the rock on which she sat with deliberate slowness. Her gaze never left Raanil, and when she told him to rise, the chiss felt the Mandalorian's eyes press into his back like a boulder. Still, he returned to an upright position, vulnerable again under the lash of Sullust...

Van'Aria's voice sounded strangely metallic and almost disembodied from under the helmet. This, combined with Raanil's exhaustion, soon convinced him to abandon any intention of responding ironically to the Mandalorian's pomposity. The warrior's eyeless gaze dispelled any doubts about the...

Raanil was sober. For the first time in a long time, neither alcohol nor spice clouded his brain. Given these factors, he wondered what had prompted him to make the absurd decision to travel to Sullust, a planet of rocky deserts and active volcanoes. There he was to meet his mysterious contact...

< Oh my, thank you! A true hero! > Raanil pulled himself up with difficulty, pushing away the hand the newcomer (an echani, apparently) was offering him. < Now they'll beat the crap out of both of us > With a grimace of pain from the cut on his foot, the chiss continued relentlessly, ignoring...

The guards arrived a few hours later. As they did every day, they opened the locked cell door without a word, and with an abrupt gesture invited their guest to leave and join the queue of prisoners heading for the yard. Raanil had the feeling that even the guards were not immune to the...