Star Wars: Rise of the Battlemage

I left the bridge at a fast walk. I wasn't afraid that Corvak would suddenly try to take over the ship, especially since my crew was still armored and their civilians were stuck like rats in a cage if shit suddenly went down. Obviously, my team wouldn't target them, but there was only so careful you could be when fighting for your life. Despite not being worried, I wasn't exactly looking to tempt fate, so I moved quickly.

Before I headed down to the cargo bay, I made three stops. First, I quickly stepped out of my armor and into my Skyforged uniform, taking time to strap my pistol to my hip. I felt comfortable talking to them without my armor, both because I was pretty sure they wouldn't try anything, and because Corvak had taken off his helmet in front of me.

That meant that this particular group of Mandalorians weren't devout followers of The Way. Or was it The Creed? Either way, it was a good thing because, beyond that concept and those names, I knew fuck all about the Disney version of the Mandolorians. Of course, that only mattered if the parallels continued. For all I knew, this was some sort of obscure mix between Legends and Disney canon. Though, that didn't matter much either because what I knew about Mandalorians from the Legends canon was about four thousand years out of date.

Basically, I was flying blind, save what was common knowledge and what I picked up from various Legend sources.

When I finished changing, I made my way to the enchanting room. The enchanting table and materials were back where they were supposed to be, having returned them after transferring back from the Starcaller to the Chariot for the final leg of this mission. There, I grabbed a small ingot of electrum. I had set it aside to make into some jewelry, with the intention of testing if the material of the item being enchanted affected the power of enchantment at all. I hadn't quite had the time to do that experiment, and now I was glad I hadn't. Slipping the bar into my pocket, I made my way to the lounge.

There, stored inside the internal cavity of the couch, was the emergency medical droid. On most ships, at least the ones that had them, the medical droid was activated, scanning for injuries and being on hand to help. On the Chariot, with me around, it was often redundant, so it was kept in an easy-to-access storage container, namely the couch. I activated the droid and grabbed the medical supply box it would need to treat anyone before finally heading back down to the cargo bay.

I nodded to my team, who were doing their best to guard the stairs to the second level without actually looking threatening. Everyone was feeling a lot of stress, even after having escaped relatively unharmed. Thankfully, the Mandalorians seemed content to talk amongst themselves. They looked happy to finally have escaped Grakkus, but the tension of being at someone else's mercy was still heavy in the air.

"Corvak," I called out, getting the leader's attention. "If anyone needs healing for any injuries, I'm happy to help. For anyone who might not trust my abilities, I have a medical droid here as well."

Hearing me call out, Corvak pushed through the crowd, which quickly spread to let him through. He paused to look at me, studying my uniform before nodding in approval.

"Thank you. We appreciate all of the aid you have given Clan Syr."

"You tried to warn us away from a trap, despite what it might cost your Clan," I pointed out. "That alone would earn you our help. Beyond that, the Skyforged believes that finding allies is something that must be an active goal, not a passive one. For now, though, we should focus on making sure your people are fed and healthy. What comes next can wait for now."

He nodded and turned to his people. After a brief explanation and demonstration of my abilities, we began to work our way through the crowd. In total, there were thirty-six Mandalorians in my cargo bay. Twelve fighters, six children of various ages, two babies, and sixteen adults of mixed genders. Almost all of the adults had light injuries of some kind, mostly just bruises, while a few were more heavily wounded. At first, several of them refused my healing magic, but after demonstrating it on myself and healing everyone else, most of them eventually agreed. The medical droid scanned everyone, just in case.

When everyone was healed and or treated, Tatnia and Ahsoka started handing out food to everyone. Nal, myself, and several of the Mandalorians moved and shifted crates around to let everyone sit and enjoy their food, something they hadn't been able to do for quite some time. By now, the twelve Mandalorian fighters had removed their helmets and were talking with the civilians.

Once everyone was set, I grabbed some food for myself and sat down near Corvak and his partner. His people were remaining a respectful distance from their leader, which was perfect for my purposes. After a moment, Corvak gestured to his wife with a smile on his face.

"Deacon, this is my love, my beautiful wife Noori, and my heart, my daughter Vina."

"It's nice to meet you both, I'm glad we were able to get you away from Grakkus and Nar Shaddaa," I said with a shiver. "It's a terrible place for a child."

"We agree on that," Noori said with a soft smile. "I am very glad to hear your droid declare her healthy."

"Speaking of your droids…" Corvak started. "You have an unusual amount of CIS droids on board, and unless I'm mistaken, this ship started as a separatist vessel."

"You're right, on both accounts," I admitted. "The Talos Chariot was our first ship, but since then, we have had a few successful raids of old CIS bases. As for the droids, we've found that as long as you use them properly, they can be useful."

"You would hide behind droids?" He asked, his tone less accusatory and more curious.

"No, we use them to fill the gaps," I explained, resisting the urge to roll my eyes at his macho "real warriors" schtick. "For example, we couldn't afford to split the group when challenging Grakkus, so we left it to the droids."

"They were effective, at least," He admitted. "But why not just expand your group?"

"Because they are also useful for suicide missions," I explained. "Having disposable troops on hand, ready to throw away distractions or other tasks, has proven incredibly useful. It opens up a lot of opportunities."

"That... does actually sound useful," he admitted with a thoughtful frown on his face. "Still, I dislike the indirectness. It feels dishonorable."

"Are you really insinuating that someone like Grakkus deserves a fair fight?" I asked, shaking my head. "Honorable combat has its place against honorable foes, not against bastards like him."

Technically, I didn't quite agree with his statement, but the way I put it was better than what I actually thought. The entire concept of strategy was about tricking your opponent before he tricked you. As long as you stick to basically decency, then all was fair in love and war.

He reluctantly nodded in agreement, however, falling silent while he considered my words. I smiled as Noori played with her child, the small infant burbling at the attention. No matter what happened, even if someday we met as enemies again, I would not regret saving them now. Eventually, after we had finished eating, Corvak spoke again.

"Deacon, your armor. What is it made of?" He asked quietly so that no one around us could hear.

I resisted the urge to let out a long breath. Corvak may have asked the question, but it sounded as if he dreaded the answer, and I could imagine why. In his mind, if I said beskar, he would consider himself honor-bound to demand it be returned to his people. And considering the worth of beskar, and just how much we were wearing, that would be like demanding we hand over a couple of good-sized warships.

"I am glad you asked that question quietly, Corvak," I admitted with a frown, leaning back slightly. "I hope that by this point, we've earned the right to at least explain ourselves?"

"Then it is beskar?" He asked, before letting out a long string of Mando'a expletives. When he stopped, he looked back at me, locking his eyes on mine. "Yes, you've earned the right to explain, though I would likely be shamed by other clan leaders for letting you."

"Gather your people then, I can only do this once," I explained, getting an odd look in response.

Rather than ask questions, he simply nodded and stood, walking away to gather the rest of his clan. It took a few minutes, but eventually, everyone was gathered again. My crew hung back, and I shared a look with Tatnia, who nodded in understanding. This was where things could get very messy very quickly. When everyone was gathered, I walked to the center, which naturally formed an open semi-circle around me.

"Corvak, does anyone here have the ability to recognize metals?" I asked, the man already having pushed to the interior of the space.

"...Our armorer does," He said, looking over at an older man, who nodded and stepped forward.

Silently, I pulled out the small bar of electrum and handed it to the armorer before turning to address the rest of the crowd.

"As some of you have witnessed, and no doubt shared, the armor that the Skyforged Vanguard wears is impressive," I said, getting a lot of stern looks in response. Clearly, people already suspected the truth. "As I'm no doubt you're already thinking, yes, we are wearing beskar armor. In fact, I am wearing it now."

Immediately, the crowd began to talk over me. There weren't too many people, and I could have shouted over them if I wanted to, but instead, I gave a look at Corvak. The words would mean more coming from him.

"Be quiet!" He shouted, silence returning to the cargo hold. "Deacon and his people saved this clan from working for a bastard of a Hutt. The slug held our people hostage, and the Skyforged broke us free despite us trying to kill them moments before. He has at least earned the right to explain himself!"

"Thank you," I said, nodding to him before looking back through the crowd. "The truth is that while my people do wear beskar, it is not Mandalorian beskar."

"Beskar has only ever been found on Mandalore and its moon," The armorer said with a frown. "No traces of it have ever been found anywhere else in the galaxy, and people have been looking for it for thousands and thousands of years."

"I never said we found more. I only said that the beskar we have is not Mandalorian beskar," I responded, turning to face the man holding my electrum ingot. "Armorer, what is that metal?"

"It is electrum," He responded, handing it back as I held out my hand. "Pure to as far as I can tell."

"Indeed, it is electrum," I agreed with a nod. "Now, who here has the purest sample of beskar? Does anyone have something approaching pure beskar, in armor or otherwise?"

For a while, the crowd was silent, until one of the fighters stepped forward. I recognized his armor as the one that Nal had tackled to the ground and stunned. Now that his helmet was off, I could see he was younger than I expected. In fact, most of the fighters were younger than I expected. I could feel there was a story there, but for now, I needed to focus on the task at hand. When the slightly younger Mandalorian soldier reached the inner circle, he nodded.

"I have a tab of pure beskar. It's a necklace, handed down to me by my father," He explained, reaching around his neck to pull out a small circle of metal with some symbols stamped into it. "He received it from his father, and him from his, going back several generations."

"Impressive," I said with a smile. "Lay it over your armor, I only need to touch it with my finger."

He frowned, but a glance as Corvak saw him doing as I said, laying it over his chest plate, the chain having just enough slack to do so. I reached out and put my finger on the simple amulet, before looking around the crowd. I raise the bar of electrum in my hand so that everyone could see it, pinched between my fingers.

"You have all seen my healing abilities firsthand, and some of you have seen my magic in combat. But magic is capable of much more than throwing fire and healing wounds," I explained, before casting Transmute. "Watch as I exert my will over reality."

My hands glowed, and I could feel my magic slowly converting the electrum bar into beskar, the crowd was silent. Finally, after nearly a minute of watching the wide-eyed audience stare, the process was complete. I patted the soldier on the shoulder, before turning and passing the ingot of newly transmuted beskar. I make sure never to really cover it completely so that none of them could accuse me of any sleight of hand tricks. When I place the ingot in the armorer's hand, he looks at it for a second as if he couldn't believe it before finally starting to identify it.

For a good minute, he examined the ingot, even taking out a small tool and attempting to etch it. After he was done, he looked up at Corvak, his eyes still wide.

"Sir…it's beskar. Pure as you could hope for."

Whispers of disbelief ripple over the crowd as Corvak approached us, taking the ingot from the armorer's hand. He turned it over in his own before passing it back to me.

"You can convert electrum into beskar?"

"I can convert any pure metal into any other pure metal," I corrected, triggering a whole new wave of whispers to float around. "I use precious metals to make beskar because the conversion rate is too low to be worth it otherwise."

"How does it work?" He asked. "Are there any limitations? Is it permanent? Can-"

"Woah, woah, slow down. First, I want you to keep this," I said, handing him the ingot of beskar. "Consider it a gift. Second, we have plenty of time to answer all of your questions. Soon, we can sit down and discuss this and more. For now, I just wanted to prove we did not steal our beskar from your people."

For a long while, he stared at me, trying to see past what I had done or maybe what I was thinking. Eventually, he nodded in agreement.

"After witnessing it myself, as long as you are not tricking me, I agree. You are not stealing from my people," He agreed, sounding slightly lost and unsure. "But I cannot drop this topic until I know everything. This has the potential to change everything!"

"...Fine, then follow me up to the ship's common area, where we can discuss this in more detail," I agreed, gesturing back towards the stairs to the second level. "We have more to discuss than just beskar, anyway."