Mando's hands grabbed various tools and pieces from some crates as she got to work on a droid sitting on a workshop table. Arms, legs, the torso, the head, and wires and gears laid scattered about on the bench as she got to work.
"So what exactly are you doing?" Lyra asked.
"Fixing up my new toy," Mando replied. "Hondo gave me this bot, and I am going to make good use of it. No sense in letting this guy rust. This thing's a tactical droid, and if it has any functioning strategies, we could use those."
"How many droids do you even have at this point?" The Jedi asked, raising a brow.
"As many as I can make," Mando replied. "Just hope this thing, along with you, we'll be able to take down those bandits without a hitch."
Lyra hissed. "Um... about that..."
Mando dropped her tools on the table and her head whipped around. "Don't tell me there's something wrong."
"Yeah, it's just, um... I didn't think this through, I got so caught up in the current events, and, uh. I can't help them."
The inside of the Sweetie Drop came to absolute silence, outside of the few sounds of the machinery running.
"... An hour ago, you just told me that you needed to help someone in need because it's the right thing to do, now you're saying that you can't get involved?" Mando asked, wanting to rip her hair out underneath the helmet.
"No I can't. Look; suppose I kick the bandits' butts and drive them off. But what if they come back? I can't stay here forever, I've got Flurry to look after, and what if the Storm Army hears about a Jedi alone on Sorgan? No, I want to help these people, but they also need to learn how to help themselves."
Mando banged her helmeted head against a beam. "Great, great, just great. You tell us to come help, I'm agreeing to help, and now you can't help--Is there anything else I should know, is there anything else you Jedis aren't allowed to do?"
Lyra gulped, and shamefully twiddled her fingers with her head sinking. "Well... we're not supposed to go near the Unknown Regions. Specifically, we're not supposed to go within a few miles of Exegol. That planet is extremely off-limits."
"Well that's just plain sense, that planet's a deathtrap waiting to happen, you have to be a complete moron to want to go there," Mando agreed. "Anything else I should know?"
Lyra's hands slowly let go of each other and lowered to her sides. "We're also not supposed to form attachments... have kids. Date. Get married."
Mando stopped her work. She could feel Lyra was hurting just trying to say all of those words. She set her tools down, and looked at Lyra, softly patting her shoulder. And she felt her chin being lifted slightly as Mando got her to look in the eye.
"What's wrong with doing any of those things?"
"Mando. I know it sounds ridiculous, but... look. The Jedi code forbids us from forming attachments like getting married, as I said. This doesn't mean that we're all strangers to compassion; our belief is that every single living, breathing, ounce of life is precious. And, um... well, we're also supposed to keep our loyalty to the Jedi Order and to nothing else."
"... I see," Mando said, coldly.
Lyra felt a bit sad that she had even brought up the conversation, but she found a way to switch it around, and with a happy smile. "So, you think you can get this tactician activated?"
"You bet," Mando said, also pushing past their previous conversation.
"What about its former programming? What if it's hostile, to you, I mean?" Lyra corrected herself.
"I got that covered," Mando nodded, pulling out another basket. "These little chips are bits of programming I conjured. This droid will have all of its previous memories and knowledge regarding war strategy, however, thanks to the little bit of hacking and rewiring I've done to these boards, it won't believe it's on the Storm Army's side, and it will follow us."
The final chip was installed, along with flipping the activation switch in its brain. The top of the droid's head was fastened, and the two stood back as they saw the droid's eyes power up with light. His head swiveled and looked around, getting a look at his surroundings, until it locked onto the Mandalorian.
"Hi. My name's Mando, and this is Jedi Master Lyra Heartstrings. What's your name buddy?" Mando asked in a rather out of nowhere motherly-like voice. Enough to make Lyra's eyes bulge from her sockets.
"I am K2-B4. I do not understand my current surroundings."
"Don't worry, you've been freed from the Storm Army," Mando said, still trying to make sure the droid calm and not freak out.
"I am free?"
"Yes, you are free," Mando confirmed. "I have freed you from a life of torture and constant verbal and physical abuse from the ruthless Storm Army to be a valuable member of my crew. If you do not wish to stay, that is your wish. You are a free droid."
The tactician's hands gripped the sides of the table it was sitting on, and his legs pulled out onto the floor to stand. He looked around some more, and then set his eyes onto Mando and Lyra.
"I was reprogrammed to help those in need. I wish to stay," K2 responded. "Are my services required?"
"Well, we are going to need your help, K2. You're a tactician, correct?"
The droid nodded.
"Excellent. I'll fill you in on the rest, just go down the hatch and meet with the black R4-series astromech unit who is waiting for us."
"Yes, mistress," K2-B4 nodded, walking right past Lyra and down the hatch.
Mando watched him leave and turned her attention back to Lyra. "Okay, now that he's online, we can come up with--"
"Wait, shhh! Shh!" Lyra stammered, holding her arms out in panic.
"What?"
"Shut up, Mando, something is here!"
Lyra listened carefully, keeping her ears and mind open. Soft clicking sounds hit her ears, along with some small taps against some steel pipes. Instinctively, she pulled out a lightsaber and Force-pulled the source of the noise from where it was, throwing it against the workbench. A small, but active little buzz-droid; a Storm Army one at that. "Alright you little booger, you wanna throw down, let's throw down!"
Uncharacteristically, the buzz droid whimpered and hit behind its dome shell, only peaking an eye out of fear.
"Hey, careful! It's just Bee!"
Lyra's eye twitched. "Bee?"
"Yeah, he's one of my boys," Mando replied, patting the top of the buzz droid's head, eliciting some admittedly cute purring sounds. "I picked up this guy in space, just found him floating in pieces with a destroyed Storm Army vessel."
"Yeah well, this little booger and many of his friends killed my astromech unit, and almost killed me during several missions," Lyra growled, glaring at the little monster.
The buzz droid quivered and whimpered as Lyra got closer, but Mando still kept it calm.
"Easy buddy. It's okay, she's with us, she just hasn't gotten used to you yet," Mando calmly replied. "Lyra, I know you're worried about my bots, but trust me, I didn't repurpose the droids so they could antagonize anyone. Understand?"
Lyra was about to screech, but she held herself back. Remembering a technique often used before, she breathed slowly to calm herself down, relieving herself of the negative emotions. "Okay. If you say he's good, then I believe you."
"Thank you. Now can I ask you to hand me the hydro-spanner? I'm going to need that for what we're about to do..."
They waited until evening to launch their recon effort. The Mandalorian stated that the darkness of night would provide better cover for Bee and allow the droid better chance of getting away if caught. Lyra had no reason to argue with the bounty hunter on this point, and so, after tucking Flurry into her crib for the night, she went up to the cockpit of the Sweetie Drop to find the Mandalorian seated before a screen setup, with a device in one of her hands.
“Find anything?” she began, before being shushed with a gesture. Mando pointed to the screen, and Lyra realized that she was looking at a live feed from the buzz droid’s camera; at the moment the view was showing a high-up view of the woods outside of the village, but through the branches she could see the distant flicker of what looked like a fire. From the device in the Mandalorian’s hand came garbled noise; Lyra realized it was a link to Bee’s speakers, picking up outside noise.
“Sorry,” the young Knight mouthed, as she carefully stepped over to get a better look (and listen) of the situation. She knelt by Mando’s side, eyes locked on the screen as Bee’s view cleared a line of trees to come across the sight of a large campfire. Several speeder bikes were haphazardly parked around the clearing, and there were various men – both human and a few aliens – seated by the fire, clearly having a good laugh about something.
“when—Torq—gonna—dump—”
The sound coming through the speakers was hazy, fading in and out. Lyra tilted her head, turning one ear toward the listening device in the vain hope that this would help the sound come through more clearly. Mando tensed slightly, in annoyance perhaps.
“—tired—wait—village—” Bee’s camera continued to hover above the treetops, but the sound wasn’t coming through any clearer.
“Can’t you get any closer?” Lyra whispered. “I can’t tell who’s saying what!”
“I’m not risking Bee’s cover,” the armored figure answered tersely.
“No point in spying if we can’t learn what their plan is,” the Jedi snarked.
If Mando was irritated by her comeback, she gave no visible sign of it. She fiddled with a switch on the listening device, pushed a button, and after a short pause, the camera view slowly descended closer and close to the ground. Noise began to filter through the speaker in a much more discernible fashion.
“Leave the fire alone, Wezz,” a Duros with a cybernetic arm warned. “Keep adding to it and we’ll really be in trouble.”
Wezz – a human male with wild eyes and spiked hair – scowled darkly at the other bandit, but reluctantly put down the metal rod he’d been poking the logs with, and sat back, now fixing his too-intense gaze on the flames.
“Ahh, c’mon Zar, let him have his fun,” complained a Devaronian who was missing a horn. “Of course he’s bored, we all are. When’s the last time we got to do a good raid around here?”
“Nearly a month,” another human – this one older than Wezz, and squatter, shaped like a brick wall – groused, as he polished the blade of a knife. “Torq says we can’t push these village folk too hard or they’ll get desperate enough to do something really stupid.”
“Yeah? What they gonna do, fight us?” snickered the Devaronian. “Can you imagine those farmers and homesteaders, picking up their farm tools and trying to fight the Scrapper Clan?”
“They could try to make a break for it,” Zar the Duros pointed out. “Just pull up and leave town when we’re not looking.”
“Heh. If they’re smart they wouldn’t even dream of doing that,” the burly human chortled. “Anyone tried to run out on Wezz here, he’d make ‘em into a hood ornament. Ain’t that right Wezz?”
Wezz barked out a guttural, cackling laugh at that. Lyra clenched her teeth at the noise.
“Still, maybe Torq’ll let us have some fun with ‘em soon,” the Devaronian mused as he got up and stretched. “I heard that Onyx saw some new faces in town yesterday when he held up one ‘a the stores.”
“New faces? Out here?” Zar was clearly dubious. “They’d have to be desperate or stupid to come to Sorgan.”
Bee’s camera flickered for a moment. There was a burst of static from the listening device, before the Mandalorian gave it a shake, and the noise filtered back in once more.
“Maybe they’re looking to hide out here. There is a war on and all.”
“Yeah, the war…” The Devaronian chuckled. “Best thing that coulda happened to us, eh? The Republic and the Stormies, all kicking up who-knows-what over I-don’t-care, and leaving US to take in the loot with no interference!” There was a hearty round of laughter over this, even from gloomy Zar, and Lyra felt a swoop of anger in the pit of her stomach over the heartlessness of these crooks.
“Y’know, I nearly enlisted on the Stormies’ side,” piped up the squat bandit. Everyone stopped and looked at him in surprise. The burly man leaned forward and added: “…Just so I could get a shot at those prissy Jedi!”
Wezz threw back his head and cackled like a monkey-lizard, as the campsite reverberated with a new wave of whoops and laughing.
Lyra clenched her fists tight, indignation burning hot at their mockery. Then, to her surprise, she felt a slight pat on the back. The Mandalorian’s masked face had turned to face her, and despite the other girl not saying a word, Lyra felt like she had just been shown some actual sympathy from the armored warrior.
The wave of laughter passed, and a new quiet fell over the bandits’ fire pit.
“Ahh… it’s late,” Zar the Duros grimaced as he looked up at the moon overhead. “Let’s mount up and get back to base. Best not keep Torq waiting, eh?”
“Yeah, he might take your other arm this time, right Zar?” the Devaronian called as he made for his speeder bike.
The Duros gave him a foul look, but his retort was lost in the whine of engines starting up. Bee’s camera started to move up again, ready to lift off. Lyra suddenly had an idea.
“Wait!” she whispered to the Mandalorian, “Have him follow them!”
“What?”
“They can lead us back to their camp!”
The air rang out with a loud whoop as Wezz gunned the engine of his bike and took off zooming into the night.
“Hurry!” Lyra pleaded.
“Fine,” huffed the Mandalorian, as she swiftly transmitted a new order to the buzz droid that was their recon unit. Bee’s camera lifted up into the air, and then, to Lyra’s amazement, settled down to hide right at the back of Zar’s bike – the very last one to take off from the scene.
The rush of wind, and the howl of the speeder bike as it shot through the night. More than a few leaves from low-growing plants whipped against Bee’s camera, and Lyra felt a prickle of guilt at the idea of the high-speed ride that the little droid must be going through as the bandits’ rides rocketed between the trees of Sorgan’s forests.
The ride to the camp progressed far too quickly for Lyra, as she tried to watch Bee’s camera feed as the bandits’ bikes sped across the landscape. Trying to find a landmark in the darkened woods was next to impossible; all the Jedi could do was watch the green whip past and try not to feel too nauseated at the rush of motion before her eyes.
And then, quite suddenly, the woods came to an end, and the speeder bikes were out in the open, zooming across grassland – grassland that thinned out and became flat dirt, as the bikes gradually slowed down and came to a stop.
Bee waited a few minutes before carefully detaching from the back of Zar’s bike; hovering above the ground, the buzz droid turned about, and its camera revealed the sight of the Scrapper Clan’s hideout. Lyra’s mouth opened in astonishment at what she was seeing. The Mandalorian sat up sharply.
Looming over the group of bandits, huge and monolithic in the dark, was a massive industrial building. It had clearly been abandoned years ago by the original owners. Now it was lit from within and without by crude fires, and the grounds littered with scrapped speeders, stripped-down bikes and assorted other junk, but Lyra knew what this place had been once in the past.
“That’s a factory!” Lyra whispered. “A speeder factory!” She could dimly, through the flickering light of one of the fires, make out the faded old company logo by the main door.
“That makes sense,” Mando said quietly. “Corporation must have set up here before the war started. It’s a pretty secure location; perfect fort for a gang of crooks.”
“Perfect for a bunch of speeder-loving jockeys,” Lyra muttered, as Bee slowly hovered up into the air again and carefully followed the group of raiders heading to the main entrance of their hideout.
The Devaronian marched to the door and banged a fist on it. “Hey! Fingers! Open the door!” he called. A small hatch opened on the wall by the doorframe, and a droid eye emerged – Bee shot further into the air to avoid being seen, far enough out of range that neither Lyra or Mando could hear the conversation below. Judging by the way that the Devaronian was waving his arms though, and how some of the others were acting too, it wasn’t going well. Wezz, the raider with the wild eyes and cackling laugh, was brandishing some kind of blade for one…
“Over there,” Mando pointed carefully, tapping a button on the remote. “Window.”
She was right. There was a row of shattered windows along the uppermost floor of the building. The buzz droid dutifully soared up and through one of them, and was inside the disused factory. Bee clambered into a rafter and scuttled along the length of it, camera playing over the main floor of the building.
It was a chaotic, ugly sight. The factory floor was littered with speeder and other machine parts. Droids, many of them patchwork creations, assisted gang members with stripping down speeder frames, or rebuilding them into faster, more dangerous machines. As Bee’s view passed over the scene, Lyra and Mando glimpsed a fight break out between two Scrapper mechanics over some engine part; one of them grabbed a wrench and clobbered the other with it, knocked him to the ground, and then beat him again before taking the engine part for himself.
Elsewhere in the “renovated” factory other members of the Scrapper gang – human and alien alike – could be seen crowded around a homemade arena, wherein a bulky, modified labor droid was being made to fight a rigged-up astromech unit. The smaller droid was actually making a good account for itself, thanks to a combination of a saw attachment and a blowtorch; it had taken out the legs of its opponent and was going to town on the poor labor droid’s face. Electronic screams rang through the air, mingled with shouts and groans from betters overlooking the fight.
Even filtered through Bee’s speaker feed, the din of tools, shouting voices, machine sounds and loud blaring music was horrible to listen to; Lyra covered her ears with a wince, hoping that the noise wouldn’t reach Flurry and wake her up. And then, quite suddenly, the noise died down, until the factory was nearly silent. Bee shifted about, searching for the cause—until the little buzz droid found it.
Zar and his fellows had finally made it inside the factory… but that was not the cause of the silence. No, the reason for that had to do with the two figures who were now on the scene. The first of them was a skinny human male, tall and scraggly-haired, with a large pair of goggles perched atop his head. Both of his arms were mechanical, if mismatched; the hands though were identical, with long skeletal fingers that were twitching anxiously as their owner looked around in terror.
The reason for his panic was obvious, as he was currently in the grip of a giant of a man. Huge and muscular, his brawny arms exposed to the air, but his face was hidden by some kind of metal mask.
Mando leaned forward intently. Bee, as if sensing that this was important, began to scuttle down the support beam and closer to the scene. As the little droid came nearer and nearer to the scene, sound began to filter in more clearly over Bee’s speakers. The big man was talking.
“—true? You refused to let these men in?”
The big man had a dangerously soft voice. It was, Lyra thought with a shiver, almost singsong. The man with mechanical hands mumbled something.
“What was that, Fingers? I did not hear you.” The voice was definitely lilting now. “Tell me again, why you did not let my men in when you knew I was waiting for their return.”
“I-it was just a bit of fun, T-torq Rexus,” squeaked the man who was named, or nicknamed, Fingers. “D-didn’t mean anything by it. I swear!”
The big man, Torq Rexus, was silent for a moment. Everyone – Bee, Lyra, Mando, the other Scrappers – all watched intently, holding their breath for what might happen.
Finally, Torq took his hand off of the skinny man, and let him step back. And then, just as everyone started to breathe easier, Torq Rexus lashed out. In one fast, awful movement, he grabbed one of Fingers’ mechanical arms, ripped it clean off at the elbow, and hit him hard in the face with it!
Lyra nearly screamed, as the poor man went to the floor with a muffled wail of pain. Torq Rexus casually tossed the dismembered cybernetic limb away, without a backward glance to the underling he’d just mutilated, and turned to face Zar and his group.
“Report?” he asked, in that soft, almost singsong voice.
“We… we did just what you asked,” Zar answered, nervousness showing in his tone. “We rode out and scoped the farmland, just like you said. Picked up word from some of the boys in town too.”
“Crop looks good and tall this year,” the burly bandit chimed in, giving a rapid nod as he kowtowed to the hulking man, “They oughta begin harvesting soon.”
Torq Rexus was silent for a minute, brawny arms clasped behind his back. Then he chuckled softly. “Good, good. They will begin their harvest in the days ahead… and when they do, we will have one of our own as well…”
There was a ripple of laughter at his words. Lyra and the Mandalorian immediately understood the implication.
“That’s this guy’s game,” Lyra whispered, outraged. “Stealing food from farmers because they can’t bother to make any themselves!” Mando nodded, then stiffened as a new voice broke in over Bee’s speakers.
“Why do we have to wait?”
It took a moment for the Jedi or the bounty hunter to pinpoint who’d spoken. It was the wild-eyed raider, Wezz. He had a harsh, somewhat shrill voice, like he didn’t know how to talk below a certain volume. Silence fell once again, and even the wild-eyed bandit seemed to realize what he’d just said, as Torq Rexus turned to him. Wezz, even as Bee’s camera flickered slightly and the picture quality dimmed somewhat, was clearly scared of just what might happen next. “I… I didn’t mean anything, I was just—”
Torq Rexus held up a hand, and Wezz nearly choked as he shut himself up.
“Why wait?” The big man in the mask repeated, in that strangely soft voice of his, that still managed to carry in the quiet around him. “Hmm. Maybe we should. Perhaps we should all ride out, right now! And we can tear through the village and round everyone up, make them harvest all their crop for us, and then I suppose we could kill them and drag their bodies from our speeders as we celebrate our haul. You would like that, wouldn’t you Wezz?”
The spiky-haired raider chewed his lip for a moment. “Yeah,” he answered after a moment.
Torq Rexus abruptly punched him hard in the stomach. Wezz doubled over in pain, curling up on the floor, wheezing. The big man let him whimper a moment or two, and then spoke up, loudly and clearly, addressing everyone now.
“Wipe out the village, we wipe out our supply of food and tribute! If we wait to raid the village, it is by MY order! If we scavenge ships and droids, it is MY decision! You were nothing before, now you are Scrappers! And who leads the Scrappers?”
“Torq Rexus!” the bandits readily answered.
“WHO, leads the Scrappers?”
“TORQ REXUS!!” This time the call was loud enough to make Bee soar upward in alarm, and Lyra winced at the loudness that bled through the buzz droid’s speakers. Mando quietly reached over and switched off the microphone, and input a new command to the droid. Bee retreated upward into the rafters, all the way up to the ceiling, nestling in the intersection of some support beams. All was quiet in the cockpit of the Sweetie Drop as the Mandalorian and the Jedi Knight processed what they had just witnessed.
“That guy’s seriously crazy,” Lyra huffed.
"So we know what these guys have planned, what do we do now?"
Lyra rubbed her chin, tapping her toe against the floor. "Hmm... I think we may need to see what path they might have taken. If we're going to stop them, we should learn exactly what roads they take to get to the village. There has to be a pathway, a road, something paved for them to follow to find us."
"I have an idea."
With the baby being watched over by the astromechs, Lyra, the Mandalorian, and K2-B4 walked through the forest, away from the ship to find a path. So far, it had been quiet. Only the sounds of chirping bugs and little frogs hopping about on the trail.
"So explain to me, Mando. You know this tactician that Hondo gave you is just a standard model? I think you should have gotten a super tactical model instead," Lyra said.
"He's still a tactician, isn't he? I'm not just going to throw him away to be nothing. He may be a droid, but he still is sentient," Mando said, patting K2's shoulder.
"Just saying, there's a reason these things were taken down so easily. They're full of themselves, their strategies were flawed, oh and they were easily destroyed," Lyra deadpanned.
Mando rolled her eyes under her helmet. "Well okay, if they're so great, how do you know this? Have you met one?"
"Only by name. A friend of mine, Ahsoka, she mentioned a super tactical droid taking control with a false king over on Onderon. Didn't get the droid's name, but supposedly he and his forces just left the king dead on the throne and left for some other planet," Lyra explained.
"Hmm. I see."
K2 suddenly stopped in place, observing the large trail in front of him.
"You have something?"
"There appears to be a hiking trail that leads deeper into the woods and to our camp. I cannot calculate the estimated time it would take for the bandits to arrive at the village," K2 said, looking around.
Their eyes looked all around throughout the forest, looking and searching for anything that could be used to their advantage, or used to conjure up an idea. They knew what they were up against, now they needed a plan to fight back.
"Wait a minute. What the hell are we doing here? K2 is a tactical droid, I still left some of that old programming in him. Maybe he can calculate a strategy to fight back--"
"Mando."
Her train of thought died when Lyra held her hand in front of her, blocking her from moving. Lyra looked down at the ground in front of her, and what she saw made her skin run cold. A large track of a path was indented in the ground, as if something had gone through here not too long ago. Mando looked at the tracks ahead of her, seeing the track as well, with several trees pushed out of the way like they had been chopped or sliced away. But the line that dug into the ground, there were several patterns of shapes, all straight ones, almost as if they were like treads.
"What could have gone through here?" Mando asked.
"I think I know. The Storm Army has some fun little battle droids that are the size of tanks. And judging by these tracks... these belong to a NR-N99 Persuader class enforcer. Which means..."
Mando and Lyra looked to each other, giving single nods.
--
The Next Day
"You can't live here anymore."
Everyone looked at the Mandalorian with an appalled face, accompanied by groans of annoyance.
"What?"
"How dare you!"
"Why must we leave!?"
Lyra held her hand up, getting them all to quiet down. "At first, we thought these were regular bandits. But no one said that these guys were in possession of a Storm Army tank."
"That's why we want your help," Wix pleaded. "We can't fight that thing!"
Mando and Lyra looked at each other, and Lyra swung an arm over Mando so the two were huddled privately.
"Are you still not going to help?"
"Mando, wait. None of us knew they had one. If we can teach them how to fight and help them defend themselves, I can put my attention on the massive droid. At the very least, I'll still be giving them a fighting chance and a chance to save their own village. Fair enough?"
"Alright, fine. Just don't tell them that you're not getting too heavy in the fight," Mando agreed. She whipped around to look at the villagers. "Look, we're still going to help you all defend the village. And I have someone who can give us a hand," Mando announced. The purple and gold tactician marched forward, standing by her side. "This is K2-B4. He or she, I don't know, do not aggravate me on that, can help us a hand in coming up with a plan to successfully defeat these bandits. Now lets formulate a plan..."
--
Later that day, the entire town was gathered in the village square, where Lyra, Mando, and the droids could get their attention. With a giant hologram in the center, everyone had a solid view to see the entire town map, which made things a bit easier to explain.
"You have three problems. The bandits, their bikes, and their Storm Army tank. Lyra told me she's going to handle the tank, she knows a thing or two on dismantling tech. That means the rest of you need to keep their attention while she takes it down," the Mandalorian addressed.
"But what about weapons? We're a peaceful planet, we have no guns to use," one of the villagers asked.
"With the Mandalorian's weapons supply, we could provide half of the villagers some firearms to defend," K2 determined.
"I do have some guns available," Mando agreed. "But we need to see how many of them have good eyes and strong arms. Now what about defenses, is there anything we could use to make a barricade or something we could use as shields while firing back?"
"The metal from the awnings will do. The blasters will not be able to penetrate the steel," K2 continued. "Two commando units and Lyra will take cover from the trees and roofs. While they fire from the sides, the villagers and our commando units can shoot down more targets than the bandits will be prepared for. Their chances of victory against us are .098% to 1."
"I hope you're right," Lyra shook her head. "And don't tell me you're always right because you're a droid, so many of you tacticians were so wrong, it is not even funny."
"I am not programmed to understand humor," K2 stated.
"... I wasn't making a joke, I don't even--let's just get the defenses made."
Lyra waved the droid off, and K2 just watched her step away. "Ha. Ha. Ha."
"Yeah, yeah. K2," Mando said, getting him to listen to her. "I have another assignment for you. Help the villagers set up defenses and positions where they can be when the bandits arrive. And tell Cheep and Bee to keep an eye on the gang. If these bandits are coming or have something big, I want us to know right away."
"Yes, milady," the tactician agreed.
Later that day, Mando was overseeing a group of civilians who were practicing with guns. She grabbed an entire assortment of guns from her ship for them to practice with, even going so far as to willing to lend them their guns for when the gang would finally come.
So far, the only hitting targets set up were a few spare pots and metal cans for them to blast. Roughly half of the people practicing were able to hit anything. Timber Spruce did get a few shots here and there as well.
"Hah! Another shot!"
"You may be able to hit some spare cans, but you need to have the speed to hit a few riding wackos on a bike. Don't get cocky, and don't get overconfident. That's how Jedi and Sith keep losing against one another," The Mandalorian warned.
"Relax, I got this," Timber said, firing another blast with a single hand, scratching the side of another pot.
The Mandalorian shook her head. This was going to take all day, she swore...
--
Elsewhere, Lyra along with G-G helped create some barricades for the civilians to take cover. Metal sheets and plating supported into the ground, with some small holes to fire their weapons through. Some were set near the entrance, and some were taking place on the porches of some of the houses, alleyways, and even on the roofs for extra cover.
"Looking good everyone!" Gloriosa announced, monitoring the activity.
"How goes the traps?" Lyra called out.
"We have a few traps set should they run on foot, but if they run the bikes over them, it should work the same way. We have a few nets, a few springloads, and a few dug out holes," she explained.
"Excellent. Keep it up, I'll go check on the Mandalorian and the rest of the gunners."
Lyra left G-G to continue working, and walked over to a small shooting gallery where Mando and the rest of her trainees were practicing. "How goes the target practice?" Lyra asked.
"So far, so good. Looks like we have a few natural shooters, though some might need more work. Did you get the little camera pad from my ship?" Mando turned her head.
"Yeah, I got it back," the Jedi said, sitting on a wooden bench. The Mandalorian sat next to her so the two could get a brief look at the gang. Bee, the buzz droid was hiding again, this time taking cover from a bush that was thankfully out of sight. They just saw some of them doing repair work on the bikes, probably upgrading them. And Torq was monitoring their progress, very eerily.
"You heard the rumor, right boss? Onyx swore he saw a Mandalorian earlier today."Zar commented.
"Hmm... A Mandalorian?"
"Supposedly, these Mandalorians are the greatest warriors in the galaxy," Wezz commented.
"If they're so great, why have they been practically non-existent?"
"Because they have honor, as they like to call it. Never show themselves unless it's absolutely necessary... a lot of jargon to cover their fear," Torq grunted, his fists scraping against his chair. "Did Onyx see this Mandalorian with anyone else? Was he accompanied?"
"Actually, Onyx said he swore that Mandalorian was a female. Accompanied by some cute green girl, a baby, and get a load of this; one of those Storm issued commando droids."
Torq took a second to think about what they had said. "Hmm... interesting."
"Who you think that girl was?" Zar asked.
"Maybe it's the Mandalorian's date. Or maybe she's her wife!" The Devaronian cackled, getting everyone else to laugh. "But if that's the case, why hide your face? Unless you're some ugly Gungan, maybe that's why mesa don't find you pretty!"
The Mandalorian's eyes widened under her helmet. "Okay, that's it. I'm going to kill him. This is a huge insult to my people."
"Maybe she's like that big breasted opera singer we met on Canto Bight, you know, that lady with the weird arms?" Wezz snickered. "Remember when she screamed when those horses bashed through the casino floor?"
"Nah, too ugly. That Mandalorian's not that huge anyway. Maybe she's a Changeling," the burly man joked. "Disgusting bugs spreading around, just looking for love," he mocked.
"Easy to crush!"
And to not get any more upset or appalled, Mando typed in a new set of orders that transmitted to the buzz droid. Immediately he picked them up, and started to retreat away back outside, far from the Scrapper Clan's eyes. He jumped into the woods, clittering his little legs away into the woods. And immediately she turned off the device.
"First off, I am not huge, I'm very in shape. Secondly, even if I was big, no way I would hide! I'm not big, am I? I got nice hips, a good bod, in what universe am I big? At least I'm not morbidly obese like the freaking Hutts!"
"Uh, Mando?" Lyra waved in front of her.
The Mandalorian turned her head, looking at the practicing villagers who were all incredibly disturbed and confused, wondering if they should have left. Now they didn't hear the transmission but hearing her criticisms about being 'large' or whatever was enough for them to think 'what are they talking about?'.
"Take five guys," Lyra said.
Everyone did just that, going off to take a break and leave the two women alone for a moment. Some awkward silence passed as they stood there, wondering what to say or do next.
"... So should we uh--"
"--I think I'll--"
"--Yeah, I get it, I'll uh... do a thing."
And the two women walked away from each other, not sure if they should talk some more, or jsut find something else to do, anything that wasn't related to... that.
And all the while Timber and Gloriosa just stood there at a table, looking at each other, shrugging with confusion.
Throughout the rest of the day and night, everyone trained harder than ever. Practicing with weapons, long sticks that had been bent to make spears, gardening tools, whatever they could use as a means of defense. The Mandalorian and Lyra continued to monitor their progress, and they had to admit, they were impressed. They weren't perfect, but they could tell these people were going to be prepared when the Scrapper Clan arrive.
The next day, back on the Sweetie Drop, Cheep was taking care of the controls and systems inside the ship, monitoring activity outside in the forest. Luckily he view of Bee's cam, so he could monitor things from where he was. But he knew something was up...
"Everyone. We're taking this village! Long enough have we waited to make our move. We are taking what is ours, and nothing is going to stand in our way. I've waited a lifetime to take it, and I'm not going to wait any longer. Mount up!"
The camera on Bee's eye let out a few statics and fuzzy vision through the lense, but Cheep could see it clearly.
"Cheep cheep cheep!" Cheep announced into the coms.
"They are on the move," K2 replied into the coms, switching to another channel. "Mistress. The attack is coming. Prepare for their ground assault. It is time to execute my plan."
Mando clicked her com device to respond. "Copy that. Alright everyone, defensive formations!"
Everyone grabbed a weapon, getting themselves ready for a fight. Staff, poles, tools, Mando's guns, whatever they could grab, they got them and stood in a defensive position. Many took cover behind the barricades that had been set up, pointing their weapons through the holes created, having a shield in place.
The commando droids clicked their weapons and leaned their backs against some trees, and some of the village housing walls for cover. Lyra took cover just like everyone else, hiding behind a log in the trees, out of the way of the path. These villagers were going to fight, but she could at the very least take out that tank, no way they should be forced to charge against that thing.
Mando stood with Timber and Gloriosa behind another barrier, weapons cocked, locked, and loaded. They waited patiently, wondering when they were about to arrive. Any minute they could speed into the town, and they had to be ready.
Back on the ship, Cheep observed from the buzz droid's surveillance cameras, looking closely at the bandits. They were loading up weapons, yes. And there was the giant tank that Lyra had discovered, but wait a minute. What were those metal figures being activated? Multiple metal figures stood up from a crouched position, with antennas raised and weapons cocked.
"Churuuuup!!!!" Cheep panicked.
His arms were flailing in the air out of panic and he spun around, but slowed down to try and calm down, activating the coms again. He had to warn them of what was coming...
--
The villagers were all in position, taking cover behind metal awnings, tables, buildings, trees, anything they could use as defenses to fight. So far, nothing. Where the heck were these bandits, they had to have been coming now? They had bikes, it didn't take too long for them to launch their attacks.
"Any second now..." Gloriosa whispered.
"What's taking them so long?" Timber grunted, trying not to shake from the tension.
"Wait," Mando raised her fist up. She pressed a button on her wrist com, and K2's transmission came through.
"The bandits are charging with reprogrammed battle droids. Let no one break through our defenses."
The transmission stopped, and even though her face was covered underneath the helmet, both Gloriosa and Timber could tell she was worried.
"Oh no..."
Just up ahead,, they could hear the marching of clanking footsteps. They were getting louder, and louder, and louder. Shapes started to make themselves clear as they came around the corner. B1 battle droids, with mismatched colors and parts, almost like the Mandalorian's junker commandos, were marching forward. Only these droids looked more like something a teenager cobbled together for a science fair presentation, and covered in graffiti. These battle droids had plenty of random paint jobs done that just made them look insane.
"Open fire!" Mando yelled.
The front gunners were the first to fire. They hid behind the defence walls, firing right through the firing holes towards the battle droids. As expected, the battle droids opened fire on the village as they marched. The defenses however proved to be of a blessing, as the civilians were out of fire, and were able to avoid being shot.
The commando droids then joined the fight, firing at the battle droids with the rest of the civilians. And the Mandalorian joined in as well, with an onslaught of fire hailing down on the battle droids. Thankfully, it seemed like there wasn't going to be any struggle to shoot. Even with how many were charging, the civilians had perfect spots to fire and avoid getting shot. Not to mention, the battle droids weren't aiming so strongly at their targets.
One by one, each of the battle droids were dropping like flies, until only two remained. Two more shots did the dead, and bam! The battle droids were down!
"Huh. That wasn't so hard," Timber chuckled, looking at the destruction they had done.
"That's only first wave, Timber. Knowing these things in the war, usually there's wave after wave after wave. Unless this Scrapper Clan plans to try and come here by themselves."
Everyone stayed in position, waiting for a sound. Any sound. The sounds of the forest were all they could hear over the sparks surging from the downed battle droids. But they could hear something in the distance. Something loud and powerful was roaring deep in the forest, and it only got bigger and bigger.
"That's their bikes!"
"Incoming everyone! Second wave!"
With a scream of engines and a cacophony of howls from their riders, the speeder bikes shot out from the woods and rocketed towards the village. Blaster shots pinged off of the villagers’ defenses, even as some of the riders shot into the air for no apparent reason other than “because”.
There were about a dozen bikes in all, and the Mandalorian could glimpse some of the bandits from recon – Zar the Duros, grimly shooting at any villager he could spot; Wezz the madman, screaming fit to wake the dead; the Devaronian with one horn, snarling and cursing as he gunned his engine, to name just a few – among the speeding horde.
“Defensive positions!” the Mandalorian shouted, and people scrambled behind fortifications, taking aim through carefully-cut slits in the metal shields they’d set up.
Howling, whooping, and cursing, the horde of bikes split off into two groups: one of which swerved to the left and began to ride around the edge of the village, firing shots off and throwing other weapons as they went. The second group promptly split into two smaller ones – three bikes veered to the right, riding counterpart to the other six speeder bikes.
The three remaining bikes continued in a straight line, right towards the main entrance of the village. Even with the barricade that had been erected, logs and bits of sheet metal to make a crude wall between the main gate, the three riders rocketed for the obstruction with no sign of slowing down.
“They’re going to ram it!” Gloriosa shouted in horror, just a second before there was a colossal crash and a rush of heat as the three bikes smashed into the barricade – one of them exploding in a mighty fireball as it struck a particularly thick log at stop speed. The rider, or what was left of it, came hurtling through the air to land with a metallic whump on the ground. Mando saw the torso and head, and one arm remaining, of a battle droid, laying in the dirt, and realized what Torq Rexus had just thrown at them.
The two remaining speeders that had broken through soon crashed as well, though with less explosive results. One of them smashed against a still-standing market stall and, its droid rider thrown off, veered to a gradual halt; the other continued until it went all the way to the other end of the village and smashed to a burning wreck against the far wall.
Mando swore, quietly but fluently, as she saw the flames from the wreckage begin to rise. “Kriff! Someone put that out! Timber Spruce, Solar Burst, you two fix that barricade, and fast! Crimson, Ivory, you’re with me, come on!”
And the two civilians yanked Mando out of the way as a massive landspeeder burst right past her. She almost got rammed if it wasn't for them. Luckily she got a good view of the speeder, and she had to admit, Torq had certainly upgraded it. He sat in the driver seat, ready to kill or mow down anyone who stood in his way. And thanks to the massive spikes, plates, and over the top defenses, he certainly looked prepared. But he wasn't focused on the Mandalorian right now, he had other priorities.
He sped through another section of the village, seeing multiple lasers fire over his head. He ducked as one almost shot him, and saw one visibly pelt the engine of his speeder. But he wasn't going to let that worry him, he was fine. And he was certainly fine enough to ram down several vendor stands and stalls that were set up in the marketplace.
The Mandalorian and Timber took cover as a barrage of laserfire flew over their heads by the bikers who were now circling back to their direction. The two had their backs against the barricades, trying to avoid being hit. However, Timber was starting to look more afraid to fight than he did the day before.
"It's now or never kid, you gotta get out there!"
"I can't!"
"Why not!?"
"I'm--" Another laser shot barely missed them. "Okay, I'll admit! I'm terrified of these guys! They're bigger, stronger, and have more experience with a gun than me!"
The Mandalorian felt a little annoyed, but not for long. She could see the absolute terror in his eyes.
"Timber, look at me. Every day I go out into the world scared out of my wits, but you know how I survive?"
"How?"
"I take a stand and show them I won't back down. These guys, these kind of people feed off your fear. By backing down, you're letting them get the better of you. I say you step up, and show them you're done taking their bull."
Timber looked back out in the fight, seeing some of his villagers continuing to blast away, trying not to get hit. But then he saw a few civilians, innocent civilians at that, laying on the ground, killed in combat. These cruel, heartless monsters terrorized him and his town every day, and for what? Their food? Resources? No. Enough was enough! With every ounce of bravery he could muster, he finally got back up, and joined his village in the fight. He saw one of the bikers coming around for another spin, ready for another blast. This time he was going to stand. With both hands on the gun, he focused his aim on the rider up ahead. The biker revved the engine and he charged forward, ready to do another shooting and finish the villagers in this perimeter.
Timber just needed him a little closer... a little closer...
BAM!
The biker was shot and he was hit hard enough to get thrown right off the bike and the speeder bike sped out of control until it slammed into the side of a building, smashing the front frame into a flattened mess.
--
While the commando droids on the roofs fired down at the bikers who kept making circles around the town, Lyra stood in her place, waiting for their mystery tank. She felt the ground tremor around her, until she finally saw something big emerge from the forest. A big Storm Army model tank, resembling the shape of a snail was emerging. However, this tank had been upgraded and armed to look more like a monster. Just like Torq Rexus's landspeeder, there were spikes everywhere, daggers jutting out of all places making it hard to grab or slam into it, it just looked like one giant animal of destruction. Two battle droids held onto it, yelling at the 'beast' to charge.
Worse, it started to open fire on the village. This sight angered Lyra, and so she emerged from hiding to strike. She slashed at the two battle droids who were clinging to the death machine, wiping them out from the battle. Taking her chance, with none of the bikers seeing her, she pulled out her lightsaber, igniting the blade and stabbing it right through the treads. This worked temporarily, slowing the droid down, but it wasn't enough to stop it. Quickly, she pulled out a bomb that Mando had given her and slapped it onto the side of the droid. The bomb started ticking, and Lyra jumped out of the way into the bushes with a heavy thud just in time.
The tank suddenly exploded, and a fire burst from the machine. The light eyes shut down, and it fell over onto the ground, now in pieces.
The few clan members who saw it were paralyzed.
"Who blew up the tank!?"
"We gotta warn the boss-agh!"
Too late. The two clan members were shot down, and laid on the ground in pain. Lyra sighed in relief, but flinched when she saw two more members cock their weapons at her, ready to shoot. They were cocked, and they slid their fingers down to fire but they didn't. The two grunts tried to shoot, but nothing would fire. Actually, they couldn't even slide their fingers over the triggers.
Lyra didn't understand why they were hesitating, until she looked over, and gasped. The magenta skinned woman, was standing there. Her arms were out, and she looked at them with an intense glare. Her hands were open, as if some invisible force was holding them there, making sure they couldn't fire at her. Gloriosa was holding them down!
Taking her chance, Lyra moved up and roundhouse kicked one in the gut, and hit another smack in the face, letting them fall to the ground from the pain. With a surprised grin on her face she looked over to Gloriosa again. This was certainly an unexpected surprise, but a welcome one.
--
Back in the village, some civilians stood in a sort of united stand as they fired at some incoming bikes. Sure the bikers fired back, but they weren't going to back down. The lasers fired over their heads, but they did get some shots on two of the incoming bikers. And jumping from roof to roof were some of the commando droids firing overhead.
"Fire at the commando droids!"
Wezz looked up and fired multiple shots at the commando droids on the roof, missing them. He did smirk at one that stood with the civilians, and he opened fire on him. Two shots hit the stomach, which made him bend his upper body back like he was about to do acrobatics... until the civilians heard him activating again and just firing back some more.
"Agh! Karabast! These things have tough armor!"
He fired again, this time firing three shots at the one in front of him, this time actually taking him out, letting him fall to the ground as a scrapped bot. He was glad with his victory, until a metal and rope sprung net activated out of nowhere, slamming into his body and throwing him off his bike, letting his bike fire off into the distance, crashing into a tree. However, he did not stay down, and got back to his feet, charging towards the entrance to the village to avoid the others. He had no speed without the bike.
Timber and the Mandalorian meanwhile were fighting as best as they could, eliminating more bikers and providing cover for more of their allies. But they had one problem, Torq was coming back around. The landspeeder faced them like a gunslinger, ready for a standoff. The Mandalorian and Timber combined, stood together, ready to shoot if he came hurling towards him.
Torq growled as he revved the engine of the speeder. He was gonna finish those two siblings for good, no matter what. The engine growled louder and louder as he kept revving it, but he didn't realize what happened.
Some of the villagers did fire back at his speeder as he ran through the village, and one of the blasters had hit the right spot to hit the fuel cells. Unbeknownst to him, the fuel was starting to overload by how hard he had been making the engine roar. But he didn't notice the shot had taken it. He slammed on the accelerator pedal, and he sped up on the landspeeder. Charging like the devil himself, he was ready to ram the two down, maybe make them both into hood ornaments or something equally grotesque. But all he saw left as he charged was the fires of hell engulfing his vision.
The engine couldn't handle the stress, and before he knew it, the landspeeder suddenly exploded in a big burst of flame, sending parts and pieces flying up into the air and raining down on the village. Gloriosa and Timber had ducked for cover, and when they looked back, they only saw a burning landspeeder slowly collapse onto the ground, with a destroyed engine, and a burning body sitting at the wheel.
The only remaining gang members left saw this, and for the first time, they had no idea what to do. The civilians had the upper hand, and their clan leader died in his own landspeeder. There seemed to be only one option.
"Let's get out of here!"
"Screw this, let's go rob people on Coruscant!"
The remnants hiked up their feet onto the bikes, and sped out of the village, trying to get away as fast as they could. The sounds of racing bikes exiting the village were the last sounds they heard, and aside from the burning fire, everything was quiet. Everyone waited, locked and loaded, ready and willing to engage them for another fight. But there wasn't any more bikers or thugs.
One of the doors to the shops fell from it's place, and K2-B4 stuck his head out to take a look. Slowly he walked out with a gun in his hand, ready to shoot if there was anyone else. However there wasn't.
"Did we win?" Timber asked, looking around.
K2 looked down at the device in his hands, doing a widespread scan of the entire village perimeter for any unknown life forms or anything else that was off.
"There appears to be no more Scrapper Clan members within the village. We have won."
"We won!"
And the townsfolk were heard cheering and whooping, crying out with joy at their victory. Even Timber softly smiled, thinking about their success.
"Yeah... we won."
The next few hours that went by were spent helping the villagers clean up the damages, and patch up whoever hadn't been killed but injured during the fight. Mando especially was kind enough to lend them a hand, making sure everyone was safe and okay. She looked up to Timber, seeing him sitting there alone, trying to take in and adjust back to the quietness of the village again.
Mando pulled up a chair, and sat next to him. "You did good, Timber."
Timber weakly smiled. "Yeah... I guess so."
"Hey. I know you were scared when the battle started. But I'm sure if your mom and dad were alive, they would be proud of you."
A silent nod followed as the two of them got back on their feet. Some more villagers were seen as they walked past them, cleaning up some more, helping each other out as they were getting things restored properly. Both of them walked past, nodding to a few people here and there. And just at the entrance, they could see Lyra with the rest of the droids, holding the baby, talking to Gloriosa.
"So... you won't tell the Jedi that I'm down here, right?" Gloriosa worried.
Lyra softly smiled and patted her shoulder. "I promise I won't say a word, Gloriosa. Besides, you already have a home, and people by your side. And now that you all can defend each other..." Lyra looked at many of the villagers talking to each other with pride, knowing that they could now defend themselves against anyone and anything that came back to taunt or attack them. "... I have a feeling you all will be okay now."
"Thank you. I hope the rest of your trip goes well," Gloriosa sighed with relief.
"Oh, but before you leave, maybe there's something we could give you as a gift for our appreciation," Timber spoke up.
"What do you mean?" Mando asked. "Your village defended itself, not us."
"It's just, well, it... hang on," Timber said, stepping away, telling them to wait. He walked inside the house that he and Gloriosa shared, and came back with a little box. Some metal parts and pieces were sticking out, very skinny looking ones as well. And the most prominent feature was the small circular head. "I found this assassin droid in the woods, left in pieces. I tried putting it back together, and I got nothing. Seeing as how you were able to take battle droids and make them obey you, I think maybe you'll have better use for him than we can."
The Mando examined the parts; strong, skinny, but durable. The cone shaped head could swivel in all directions, probably intended for keeping surveillance on all of it's surroundings.
"You know what? I think I just might."
Mando picked up the box with her hands, getting a hand from G-G using his head to help reinforce the bottom of the crate.
"Thanks for all of your help, guys!" Timber waved.
"Have a safe trip!" Gloriosa added.
"Thank you!"
"Goodbye!"
"Have a good trip!"
With a sincere smile, Lyra and Flurry waved their goodbyes to the villagers. Walking back to the ship, Lyra could feel they would be safe. Even as Gloriosa stood with her brother with a proud demeanor, watching them leave. Their eyes gazed at the Sweetie Drop flying out of the forest and into the skies to depart for Naboo. And looking down, Gloriosa watched as she moved her hand out, force-lifting a rock from the ground, with a small smile on her face.