ALDERA CITY UNIVERSITY - A LONG TIME AGO, IN A GALAXY FAR FAR AWAY

Sam woke up. It wasn't a surprise - his sleep had been unsettled lately. Stress about his exams and proposing to the girlfriend sleeping next to him had been giving his dreams a flair for the dramatic.

But it wasn't a dream that had woken Sam. In the next room of his tiny apartment, the air shifted. Sam could hear muted footsteps, disturbed fabric, the distinct clink of beskar.

More than that, a twitch in the back of his head felt the hunter in the next room was almost familiar, the space between danger-and-safe, stranger-and-self.

Nothing for it. Sam grabbed his bolo clubb, pulled at his rusty training, and went to eliminate the indruder.

In retrospect, he shouldn't have been surprised it was Dean.

Jess came out of the chamber to see two Mandalorian warriors recovering from battle, one rubbing out new armor bruises, the other removing his helmet with a smug grin.

"What's going on?" Jess asked.

"Just popping in on Sam, we have some clan business to go over," Dean said. He looked closer at her printed sleep tunic. "I love jizz."

Sam cut in. "Okay, then. What's the clan business?"

Dean cut his eyes over to Jess, the blonde Human the picture of Alderaanian innocence.

"If it's important, you can say it in front of her," Sam said.

Dean smiled. "Okay, then. Buir left a job unfinished."

"Glad to hear he's still doing what he loves," Sam snarked.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Buir left a job unfinished, and his debts are piling up."

And if that wasn't just typical. Warriors without a home planet turned to bounty hunting or other unsavory, violent jobs, and dragged their tight-knit families into the fray no matter how hard they tried to get out.

Sam sighed. "Okay. I'll help with this last job. But the civil service exam to enter the Imperial academy is in a standard week."

Dean grinned. "That's just what I was hoping you'd say, kid."