(The image above is if Thalia and Reyna could remove their helmets in front of the boys.)

Fai

Perseus brought Pax down on a landing pad at one of the Protectors' airfields. Fai was relieved that his friend had landed on the right one this time. They got up and grabbed the two crates that were sitting in the hold. They activated the repulsorlifts and brought them out. Jason was already outside waiting for them. His helmet was under his arm, revealing his blonde hair and sky-blue eyes. He wore a pair of glasses, and there was a small scar on his lip.

"Are Thalia and Reyna already here?" Perseus asked him.

"Yes," Jason answered as they began to walk towards the buildings. "Reyna just needed to fix her hair, so we have to wait outside."

"It's a shame they have that restriction," Fai sighed. "Thalia can technically show her face to you two since you're all family, but I won't be able to see her face and we all won't be able to see Reyna's face ever again."

"I'm sure Lady Arta would let it slide," Jason said. "We've all been best friends since we learned to walk. People literally call us 'the Clan of Five.'"

Perseus shrugged when they reached the metal building. It was a sort of rec center for Hound Squadron, but Jason got permission to reserve it for these monthly meet-ups. The outside wan't anything special; just a blocky metal building with some vent units at the top and a large set of double doors. Jason pounded on them when they got there, and the door opened to reveal Thalia.

"Took you guys long enough," she said, nodding to Perseus and Fai as she leaned against the door frame.

"I don't know why you're surprised," Reyna called from around the corner. By the sound of her voice, she wasn't wearing her helmet. "Perseus never got the hang of showing up on time." Halfway through her sentence, the sound of her voice changed, signifying she'd put her helmet on. She walked around the corner, her arms crossed.

"Whatever," Perseus said as he and Fai followed Jason and Thalia into the rec center. It had a laminated wood floor with lines painted on it, goals that were two meters tall and about three and a half meters wide on either side of the court. Bleachers lined one side of the court and team benches were on the other side. There was a large holovid screen on the wall opposite the bleachers, and a few other tables lining the perimeter of the room. Fai and Perseus took their helmets off and put them on a table by the entrance, and Jason set his there too.

"Are those what I think they are?" Reyna asked as she pointed to the crates Fai and Perseus had come with.

"Possibly," Fai said, trying to contain a grin.

"Here you go," Perseus said as he opened the crate. Fai opened the other. Inside each one was a K-9 series hunting droids. They were canine in shape and appearance, and their programming was supposed to mimic a canine brain as well. Reyna had found the two droids in a scrap heap a month ago and brought them back. Perseus asked if Tys could repair them, and he reveled at the opportunity. The finished products were better than they would've been if they were new. Better sensors, motors, and processors allowed them to move and react to stimuli faster, and they had beskar plating their torsos and heads instead of durasteel. Tys had also upgraded their jaws to have a stronger bite force and installed beskar teeth and claws. He'd left one of them unpainted and silvery while he'd painted the other with metallic gold paint. Reyna had also allowed for Tys to alter her left vambrace so that it had a remote control pad for the K-9s. Perseus tossed the vambrace to Reyna and she slid it onto her arm. She tapped a button on it and the K-9s powered up. They walked out of the crates and approached Reyna.

"Tell Tys I give him my sincerest thanks," Reyna said. She turned her attention to the droids. "You're Beskar," Reyna said to the unpainted one, "and you're Ve'vut," she said to the gold one.

"How well do you think they handle?" Jason asked as he crouched down to examine Ve'vut more closely.

"I don't know," Thalia said. She looked to Perseus, and Fai had an idea as to what thoughts were going through her helmet. "Why don't we find out?"

—————————

They spent the next hour or so messing around with Reyna's new dogs. They each tackled Perseus to the ground at least three times at Reyna's command, and Thalia and had been on the floor practically laughing her helmet off at the explicits Perseus spewed. For the hour after that, they'd been taking turns playing cu'bikad against Reyna. Everyone took a turn, and she beat everyone. The only one who came close to beating her had been Fai. After Reyna beat Perseus in a new record time (four minutes), they had about fifteen minutes to kill, so Thalia began interrogating Perseus on his lack of skills with a blaster.

"I'm telling you," Perseus laughed, "I'm no good with a blaster."

"'No good with a blaster,'" Thalia mocked. "Whatever dude, you still should learn to use one."

"Seriously man," Jason said to Perseus. "Not having a blaster is just impractical."

"Here," Fai said, pulling out his WESTAR-34. He twisted a dial on it, making shots from it non-lethal, and handed it to Perseus. "Just fire at the wall."

"I'm telling you, I don't click with these things," Perseus sighed as he put his helmet on. He walked a few meters away, raised the blaster pistol, and fired at the wall of the rec center. The blaster bolt went about thirty degrees to the right of where Perseus was aiming. It hit a beskar shield that was hanging on a rack, ricocheted off the metal, and hit Perseus on the forehead. Fai thanked the gods that his friend was wearing his helmet as he recoiled and fell on his back. He and Jason rushed forward to make sure he was OK while Thalia howled with laughter.

"That was pathetic," Reyna said after Perseus got back up.

"You have decent enough aim with your flamethrower," Fai said. "Maybe you should get a blaster that's mounted on your vambrace." Perseus shrugged as he tossed the blaster back to Fai.

"To be fair, with those blaster skills, you may just impress that Jedi Thalia told me about," Reyna said, her tone lighthearted.

"I told you to let it go," Perseus groaned.

"Oh, I insist," Thalia said as she caught her breath. "Please go on."

"While we're on the topic," Perseus said. "Reyna, you do realize that two people in this room have had a thing for you at one point or another, right?"

"I know Jason did at one point," Reyna said. "Who was the other one? You?"

"Not me," Perseus said, holding his hands up.

"Hey, look at the time!" Thalia said quickly, looking at the chronometer on her vambrace. "Someone get the holovid screen booted up. Perseus, go get the drinks! The game starts in five minutes!" She ran off to get the holovid screen turned on while Perseus suddenly bolted out of the rec center.

"All seriousness, though," Jason said. "I'd be ticked if I missed the semifinals because we were talking about me and my cousin's love lives or lack thereof."

"Relax, I had an eye on the clock," Reyna said as Thalia got the holovid screen turned on. Within moments, it was displaying a sports field with a goal on either side. Teams of eleven players were milling about, waiting for the starting whistle. They sat down on a set of bleachers facing the screen when Perseus returned.

"I'm back!" Perseus announced as he put the cooler down next to the bleachers. The girls sat on the rows behind the boys, flexing their rules just enough to get drinks of water or iced tea without the use of straws. The whistle on the broadcast blew, and the second semi-final game of this season's Meshgeroya playoffs started.

"Team Kubindi has this match in the bag," Thalia muttered. Fai could hear that she wasn't speaking through her helmet.

"In your dreams! Bylluran Athletic is going all the way this year!" Perseus shouted, not taking his eyes off the screen. Jason elbowed him.

"Perseus, keep that up and I'll kick your shebs during halftime," Thalia said, knocking Perseus on the head with her water bottle. This type of banter between Perseus and Thalia was commonplace during Meshgeroya matches. Perseus and Fai were fans of Bylluran Athletic because that was Sallandra's favorite team and they'd actually gone to a few in-person matches on Sullust. Jason and Thalia were strict Team Kubindi fans, and Reyna had no stakes in this match; her team, Team Alderaan, had already secured their spot in the finals a few days prior.

"C'MON!" Jason yelled during the twenty-third minute. "Even I can tell he was off sides!"

"You need a new prescription then," Perseus said, poking Jason in the side of the head so his glasses were skewed. Jason elbowed Perseus again and straightened his glasses. They watched in silence for the next twenty minutes. Team Kubindi was maintaining possession more than Bylluran Athletic, but no shots got past ByAth's keeper. Finally, near the end of the half, ByAth's midfielder intercepted a pass and made a swift run for Team Kubindi's goal. He crossed it to their forward and he planted it in the goal with a well-placed kick.

"GOOOOAAAAAAAL!" Perseus and Fai shouted as they stood up. Their shouts drowned out the noise of Jason groaning into his hands as he leaned back. Thalia threw her empty water bottle at the back of Perseus' head and it bounced away. Perseus laughed and they sat back down. ByAth shored up their defense for the last few minutes of the half and when the whistle blew, Perseus cheered again.

"There's still another half," Jason said.

"You're right," Perseus retorted. "That's another forty five minutes for ByAth to score again."

"Nothing get's past our keeper," Fai added.

"Yeah, the only goals scored on him this season have been PKs," Perseus said with a grin.

"You're forgetting the last time Team Kubindi played ByAth," Reyna pointed out.

"That doesn't count," Perseus said. "He was just getting off an injury." Fai smiled. He leaned back on the bleacher and the chronometer on his vambrace beeped. He looked to it, and his face darkened slightly. It was almost that time of the day already.

"Excuse me," he said, grabbing his helmet and walking out. When he got outside, he activated his jetpack and flew away from the Protectors' airfield. He landed at the top of a nearby hill and knelt. He removed his helmet and looked to the horizon. The sky was currently glowing a deep purple. He stayed there silently until his chronometer beeped again.

"Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc. Ni partayli, gar darasuum, Buir, Ba'buir," Fai muttered solemnly as he placed his hand over the red hand print on his cuirass. Today marked ten years and two hundred and forty two days since her death. Fai focused on deep breaths as he brought out the last thing he had to remember her by; a burnt piece of wood from his childhood home; the house they'd died in. It had caught on fire due to a fight between members of Clan Saxon and Clan Kast. His mother had gotten Fai out and rushed back in to save his grandmother. It collapsed on both of them before they could get out, however.

After several minutes of silence, Fai put the charred stick back in one of his utility pockets and put his helmet back on. All that's left of his blood family may have been lost, but for Mandalorians, family is more than blood. Right now, he began walking back to his other family. Halftime should almost be over, and, knowing Perseus, he'd probably painted his face blue in support of ByAth.

(Aliit - Clan or family)

(Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc. Ni partayli, gar darasuum, Buir, Ba'buir - I'm still alive, but you are dead. I remember you, so you are eternal, Mother, Grandmother.)

(Shebs - buttocks/ass)

(Meshgeroya - Mandalorian term for Limmie; literally translates to 'Beautiful Game')

(Limmie - Star Wars equivalent of Football (or soccer for us American Idiots))