As the mercenaries showed up at the hangar, they halted the ship's take off.
(Kew'ilaä's POV): I do not know what these mercenaries want, but the side deal was discussed with one of the masters and I do not know what they entailed. Well I guess I have to use my poker face, hear them out and see if we can remedy the situation. Master Elyra is currently in a bacta tank to heal from her injuries, she is still in a coma.
Through the force I felt that their emotions were all over the place. some sad, some excited and others angry. It made it difficult for me to get a clear indication of their intentions, but it made me wonder why there would be such a mix of expressions.
As I got to the mercenaries headquarters, I was shocked to see their true appearances...
(Mercenaries' POV): Now we got some time to speak to the Jedi and see what he knows about himself and his order. We might even have a chance to finally save the young heir from the Jedi's clutches.
As we got to our headquarters we each removed our helmets and to his surprise we looked about 60 to 70% the same. We are one of the many Gen'daian mercenary squads that has been spread out through the universe to gather more information about the young heir. It is time to inform him about his origins and reveal the past if he does not know it yet.
(Kew'ilaä's POV): I vaguely recognised their leader as he was one of the caretakers when I was but a baby. It was weird, because I always thought that it must have been a dream as these memories were fleeting and master Kiyoga was adamant that they found me at the Jedi temple's doorstep. There must be more to the story than them abandoning me as it does not seem right based on their emotions.
Their leader walked up to me and kneeled down to apologise for his mistakes. I was not sure what happened so I asked them to explain why he would apologise. They told me about the days that let to my birth and explained that the Jedi were responsible for my father's death. My father was one of the prominent figures on their home planet Gen'dai and was a leader of sorts. He was a leader that led by example and motivated others to be the best version of themselves. The mercenaries got tears in their eyes when they mentioned my father, it seems genuine.
I had mixed feelings about the Jedi killing the father I never got to know. The details were vague and did not make any sense, I will have to look into it when I receive the rank of master. I do not understand why they would kill such a leader, as it would seem like the type you want to include in the republic.
Then the story continued about the day I was born and how it was revealed that my mother was a Shi'ido, a shapeshifting species from the planet Lao-mon. They explained that they were unaware of the fact that she was a shapeshifter and do not know whether my father was aware. As she passed away shortly after I was born they did not get the chance to inquire more information. Little is known about her origins, but when they tried to find out on her home planet they were greeted with hostilities. Apparently they refer to the shapeshifting abilities as "skinshifting". Hmm, another mystery that needs exploration.
The story progressed to the part that led to me ending up at the temple. It was quite strange as it would not make any sense for them to hand me over to the Jedi Order as they killed their beloved leader. So it came as no surprise when they told me what had actually transpired. They explained that I had been stolen from them during the night.
I was shocked to learn that master Kiyoga was responsible as he did not seem like the type to me. Before he became the interim grandmaster I used to trust him a lot and confide my thoughts and feelings growing up. Naturally, I omitted sharing the most sensitive information such as my abilities to skinshift and my practises in the darker side of the force. But other than that I was an open book to him, I guess this confirms my suspicions of him wearing a mask and having his own agenda.
My people have been searching for me ever since and some had given up hope and formed their own groups. To my surprise I was deemed the heir of my fathers kingdom and the mercenaries present all swore fealty to me on the spot. What made it even more strange was I felt a connection to them through the force and they looked surprised as well.
After our meeting I told them that I already set up a few mercenary companies led by Xalae and Xilon. In addition there were corporations set up by the criminals and people that I rescued, I was not fully up to date on all the details. However, I did have middle men that should make it easy to facilitate interaction and make deals.
As we parted I explained that I would find anything related to my father's incident via the records stored in the temple and that I would build my own forces in the meantime. I asked them to continue working on generating money and gathering more allies as it would be beneficial in the long run. The mercenaries assured me that they would be fine and that they would inform the others of the return of the heir. As a final note I told them that it might take a while for me to separate from the temple as I still had some unfinished business and a lot of things to learn.
I returned to the ship and started my journey back to the temple. It has been quite a while since I have been back to the temple. I wonder what has changed over the years and I hope that I will see my sister.
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