Unknown Space and Hyperspace

Taung doubted that that mind had no questions, it could just be that she didnt want to ask questions that to someone who hadnt grown up in such an insular environment would think was commonplace and grow suspicious, or at least curious.

"I'll take the helm Sep. Go get something to eat and some sleep. It will be a long run."

"Thanks Taung." Sep stood and headed down to the lower levels to raid the galley.

Taung waited until the cockpit door hissed shut before he slipped over into the pilots seat.

"You sure you don't have something on your mind?

"Well...I was hoping for a different question than this..."

Truth be told this was the last question that he had expected her to ask so quickly. He had expected her to ask something like, "Can I take the starship for a spin around the nearest star?" or "Can I have my own speeder bike with flaming red paintjob?" or something similar and much easier to discuss. He mentally kicked himself several times for not guessing what she would ask about, especially holding a book that laid out what was expected of Mandalorians at the base of their culture. He guessed that this was his punishment for adopting a teenage clone for a daughter, let alone a Force Sensitive one.

"Well, being married is loving someone and creating a constant, safe, environment to raise and teach children to become Mandalorian and to be able to survive anything the galaxy can throw at them. Usually one marries someone you love, though beings do marry for other reasons, and with a culture that includes any species, each species reasons to marry is somewhat varied. And yes I have been married."

His thoughts turned to what seemed like another life, even though it wasnt so long ago, a mere four years, to his wife who he hadnt seen since Gaeza's prime had been captured and fought over on Lianna between himself and the Sith group known as Dark Tide. He had sent his wife away to safety, and she had disappeared, never heard from again, even after he had searched for her.

Taung reached up and unsealed his helmet, as it split just behind his ears to come off his head with a leathery creak, the actual material wasnt leather but rather a vacuum and stabproof composite material. He set it aside and settled back in the pilots chair, leaning back more with his feet straightened out in front of him and glanced over at Gaeza on his right. The light catching the silver flecks in his eyes, a clear marker of his genetic heritage, scattered within his hazel eyes. Slowly his eyes grew unfocused as he turned back to stare out at the whirling tunnel of hyperspace as his mind drifted back again.

"Her name was Vee. She was from Basilisk, small family, small community. She was new to what she considered the big city of Keldabe. One could almost say it was love at first sight, but that wasnt it. It didnt take much to fall in love. She had dark eyes and deep auburn hair, almost red but not quite. We exchanged vows a few days later on Lianna, and a few days later she fell ill. Desperately ill." His voice deepened a bit as his eyes slowly tightened at the remembered helplessness. She had gone into a coma so quickly it was almost beyond belief, and it had been safer to leave her that way until or if her body managed to recover. "It happened so quickly that it never crossed my mind that coming from such a small isolated planet that her immunities hadnt been built up to diseases that are hardly talked about now...people are simply immunized as infants or small children. She was in a coma before she could even get to the hospital."

His eyebrows ticked up quickly in a, you'll find this amusing, way, as he glanced over at his daughter.

 "I was Mand'alor then, and in a way it was a blessing at first because the duties of leading kept me preoccupied...for a while. Then I couldnt concentrate and so left the helm to someone else. She recovered just in time for Dark Tide to attack Lianna, I can't even remember now if i was able to see her before I had her take my personal ship and flee the planet. There were so many Sith fleets...seven I think, I doubted that the planet could be held. They had come for Lord Sinistra...your mother...as it were. When she attacked an auction house trying to get at a holocron that had been found off planet somewhere and was captured. The Sith werent interested in being polite, nor negotiating...simply demanded her back as a pretense for a fight. A fight in which they wanted to send the planet back to working with stone tools, because I had dared detain a Sith Lord. I ended up shattering their fleets, guiding mine from the ground, and finally confronting one of the Sith Lords, Darth Iniquitious...he crushed my hips with the Force but allowed me to live."

He sighed heavily and swallowed, remaining silent for a moment, still staring off into space.

"I wasnt able to do anything or go anywhere after the battle for some time, because I was in a bacta tank for several weeks, and even after that I had to be careful moving around before I could put my armor back on because of the weight strain. Basilisk didnt have a communications system set up, and I couldnt send word to Basilisk that I was alive. When I was finally able to go look for her, I found that she had become involved with someone else, but then had disappeared without a trace. No one even had a guess as to what had happened to her, and the man that she was with couldnt be found either."

Taung reached up and ran his hand down his face from his nose down across his chin with a sigh of emotion.

"Since then there has been no one else. I was busy, originally creating you and a clone of Sinistra's apprentice, to infiltrate or replace them within Dark Tide, to see what was coming, to keep Dark Tide in check, from allowing them to simply bully their way across the galaxy, killing people who disagreed with them or didnt want to live under them, and preparing ships to match them again. But then they never recovered after that battle, Iniquitious was killed by Ashrah who became Mand'alor, and then declared a war against all Force Users...me...you...and anything that could touch it. I was asked to do the same to others as Dark Tide had done to me...to kill even children, innocent helpless children for no other reason than they could touch the Force. There has been no time for anyone after Vee, and then I have been trying to protect you, and so I suppose I wouldnt let anyone close to me, so I could protect you."

He sat there, his face full of emotion roiling just under the surface, the small muscle twitches, and quick blinks of the eyes as he let all that was built up, things he hadnt told anyone before had come streaming from him. It felt good, but it also ached with the loss that came with it, the low dull ache of missing someone that could never be found again, a mystery with nothing but emptiness to promise. He turned his head over to look at her, his eyes still held the long held pain in them, dulled slightly by time, but bottled up in intensity.

"That is what happened. At least to me and her. It is not always so."

"I'm sorry about Vee, Papa." She grew quiet, a moment her hand limp in his as she stared out at the passing starlight. "But the Sith is not my mother, she is my prime. Do you hate her? For what she did to Lianna and about losing Vee?"

His hand tightened slightly around hers, acknowledging the comforting gesture.

"Prime, I suppose you would be familiar with all the language about cloning."

He took a deep breath and let it out, sorting out some of his feelings and how he wanted to answer her question.

"No I don't hate her. Like I said I am put in a difficult situation. Because of the war and what the war is supposed to be about, I am doing things that would be considered traitorous. I am working with Sinistra, in a way.  What Ashrah doesnt realize, is that being able to touch the Force is more than bloodline. While its true there are some families or bloodlines that the Force runs stronger in and is passed down, there are others where it simply crops up, no rhyme or reason to who or why. There is a reason that I have silver in my eyes. My mother was a Thyrsian, of the Thyrsus Sun Guard, an elite fighting culture that rivaled the Mandalorians in combat, different arenas perhaps, but still excellent fighters. The thing is though that they were completely loyal to Sith, almost worshipped them, and without a conscious effort, bred force sensitivity into their own ranks, the silver eyes is a marker of Thyrsian genetics, and I am Force Sensitive. The chances of any biological children I might have being Force Sensitive is extremely high, so they, in addition to you, would have no place in life if Mand'alors' succeeds in  his war, even myself if he found I could touch the Force. His hatred blinds him to the rest of life."

He paused and continued to stare out at hyperspace as he let more of his thoughts flow.

"The two other sides are no better. The Jedi, and the Sith. The Jedi are to pacifistic, shunning emotion, and fighting seemingly wherever possible, something that runs counter to the Mandalorian culture completely, with conflict and hardship being necessary for growth. Almost every time they have been attacked they have been swept aside, but for a few militant of them, to have enough wisdom and strength to stand up.  The Sith on the other hand are viscious, scheming, backstabbing, and demand not absolute loyalty, but in many cases ones very soul, carrying nothing for those beneath them, considering their lives as credits to be spent where and when they wish, sometimes for no other reason than to satisfy their own bloodlust.  So when this war ends....no one can actually win.  Each side must be so devastated that they can no longer continue the war and exert their sole will upon the galaxy."

He turned directly to face her.

"Its so children like you, can have a chance to grow up, and learn from the mistakes of those that came before you, to grow stronger, and protect your own children. You may be a clone of your prime, but your destiny is your own. That is why I have to arrange the deaths of so many, as terrible as it is. There is more to it than that, and I will share it with you later, but for now it is enough that I tell you why i am doing it, even if I don't tell you exactly how right now."

He hoped she would understand, she was smart, and clones frequently learned very fast, according to all the studies he had read, minds like a sponge, grasping concepts almost preternaturally quickly. He considered that he might have to be careful not to load her up with too much information at once so she could sort through it and learn the lesson he was trying to teach, for he was well aware that the lesson the teacher intended, was not always what the student learned.

Taung nodded, acknowledging her confusion. Everyone asked that question eventually, or at least they should.

"Education and Armor, Self Defense, our Tribe, Our Language, our Leader, all help us survive. There is a reason that leader is the last in that list.  If the Mand'alor called for everyone to leap to their deaths from a tall cliff, even though he may be the best one on one fighter...does that mean that is the best thing for our tribe? Each person is fallible, but if they are deliberately blinded by personal choices to the exclusion of all others needs, then they are not to be followed.  Each Mando'ade is a free person. They must make up their own minds on what and how to do things. If you can't decide matters for yourself, then you are just a pawn. There are times when must chose to be a pawn, like in war when soldiers accept the orders of their superior officer, knowing that it could actually mean their assured deaths. In such instances the soldier accepts freely the decision that their deaths will help our people, our tribe. But it is their choice.  If one can see that throwing away their lives or other lives for no gain..."

He shakes his head.

"Then is the leader acting for the betterment of his people? Or using his people for his own gain? Don't mistake any loss for personal gain, it is a terrible burden to be in a leadership position, because sometimes your will make the wrong decision with the information you  have it will cost the lives of the people who have freely chosen to follow you, to trust you with their lives. It is a terribly heavy responsibility to have weigh upon you, and not everyone can do it."

"I don't know if that is my place anymore. I suppose I would if I were placed there, but I don't seek it. My talent seems to lie in furthering the understanding of warfare, the growth of weapons to better defend those I love. If I can make ships so terryfing to those who stand against us, build such a reputation that there isnt even a battle...that is better than holding the helm once again."

He looked at her with a tired expression.

"Because then no one will die. A terrible paradox isnt it? Kill and destroy enough that it is no longer necessary to bring about peace, the ultimate soldier."

"Garqi is where the first end point for the shipment of crystals was sent. Those crystals were used at Sienar in the developmental of high powered weapons development. I doubt its the final destination. Garqi is an agricultural planet. So we go there and find out where the crystals were shipped to."

He swiveled back around to watch the stars swirl by in a haze once more. He had given her a lot to chew on, and wasnt sure what her next questions would be, most likely more that he was unprepared for.