Evading a group of bounty hunters, Jedi Knight Lyra Heartstrings must now escape capture with one of the most notorious bounty hunters in the galaxy; the Mandalorian.
A group of bounty hunters are hired to track down Jedi Master Lyra Heartstrings and obtain precious cargo she is carrying with her. But things take a change when the Mandalorian bounty hunter sees what kind of cargo this Jedi is carrying...
Inspired by the Mandalorian TV series, as well as the Clone Wars 2008 TV series. Collab with Scholarly-Cimmerian.
Evil plans! As the battles for control of the galaxies continue, so do the desire for more power and forces for the Storm Army! Storm commander Varan must track down special cargo being protected by Jedi Knight Lyra Heartstrings under orders from the Storm King! With many attempts and zero progress, he finds himself desperate and must now call on the help of money grubbing bounty hunters to bring back this mysterious cargo...
Several figures sat in various chairs in a very dimly lit room. A motley collection of hunters of different species all gathered together. The only noise that was ever heard in the room was the sound of some chairs swiveling, or the low growling of others.
A Trandoshan sitting in a chair glared at a woman hidden under a blue helmet with pink markings, and she got similar glares from the extremely pale woman sitting across from her. Her long bony fingers tapped on the table, making every tap echo throughout. Each tap was sounding like a ticking bomb to the masked woman's ears, and she hated it. But she wasn't about to cause a scene before their benefactor arrived.
"So. What'sss your sssstory?" The Trandoshan asked the pale woman, getting no answer.
"Where is that infernal general who sent out the call? I'm starting to believe this is nothing more than a scam," said a bounty hunter with the white hood.
"Wouldn't be the first time it came from the Storm Army," a Zabrak woman commented, twirling a dagger in her hand.
The doors swished open, and footsteps pattered down the hall and into the room. A man in a formal commanding officer suit had marched into the room with a serious scowl. Today was not his day, but he was not going to fail again. His face was stern as he was more than ready to get this meeting done and over with...
"Afternoon ladies and gentlemen. I'm sure you all are wondering why I asked you all to come here on this station instead of meeting somewhere more public. Well that's because I require all of your help on this important mission, hence the want ads I had delivered across the galaxy. And I am glad you all answered..." He turned his head to look at a man with blue skin and blood red eyes, wearing a long coat and hat. "Cad Bane, who needs no introduction. You are one of the best bounty hunters in the galaxy. I could use your skills in tracking down this cargo," Varan said, getting a nod from the hunter.
"Aurra Sing..." A pale-skinned woman, tall and regal with skeletal hands, an orange outfit with twin blasters and a sniper outfit, and dark sunken in eyes looked at him. "Your sniper skills make you one of the best hunters money can buy. I could use you. Embo and Sugi..."
Two figures looked up. A pale Zabrak in a marroon tank top and shotgun held in a holster, along with a purple horn sticking out the back of her head smirked. The other was Kyuzo, who wore a mask on his face, and a circular hat/helmet shield, holding a bowcaster weapon on his back. "You two work quite well together. I'm sure you two can work together on this assignment. IG-88..."
An assassin droid with a swiveling head stood tall and straight, holding a few pistols next to his sides along with a rifle.
"You're one of the strongest IG units man has ever built. Use your skills wisely." Looking to the side, he could see a human wrapped in a brown and white armored suit, with a white hood covering most of his head and face. Next to him was a Trandoshan with a yellow jumpsuit and a slithering noise coming from his breath.
"Dengar. Bossk. I understand you two are formidable hunters. I trust you two will take this job seriously."
Now the final bounty hunter was given attention; a woman in Mandalorian armor, with a dark blue and gray color scheme, and light pink markings on her helmet.
"The one who didn't give me a name, but simply asked that I state you as... the Mandalorian," he said.
The helmeted woman gave one nod, acknowledging him.
"Yes, yes. Anyways, now that you are all present, now is the time I explain the mission. My group of Stormtroopers and I have been tasked to track down a precious cargo that is being held by this Jedi Knight," he projected a hologram of the individual. "Lyra Heartstrings. She's protecting valuable cargo, and has evaded our every attempt at obtaining the treasure she's hiding."
"So you want us to kill her?" Bossk asked, hissing.
"No, my friend. I want that cargo found and brought back to this station in one piece; I do not want it damaged or destroyed. If I find out that it is, no one will be getting paid, and I will be putting the prices on your heads so large, you won't be going near a civilized system."
The bounty hunters exchanged glances with one another.
"Now, I will say this. You may use any strategy or means to get the cargo back, but I want it in one piece. If you have to eliminate those who stand in your way, then do it. But I want it back. Whoever gets it to me, will receive a generous reward of 50,000. Do I make myself clear?"
Everyone gave resounding affirmations of yes.
"Good. Now go, you must bring it back to me. Oh, and one more thing; our spies have tracked the cargo over on Arvala-7. Now get going, and don't come back here until you have the asset."
Everyone was given permission to leave, and so one by one they all left. The Mandalorian waited for everyone else to leave, and then she left, walking right behind everyone else.
So I'm competing against the best bounty hunters in the galaxy. This may be harder than I thought...
Outside the base, there were several ships parked in a few landing spots, all of them reserved for the bounty hunters. There in the other lot, there were only Storm Empire ships and cruisers.
Two astromech droids were waiting for her. One was an R4 series droid with a black cone dome with black legs, a gray torso, and some gold streaks running down the torso and the head. The other was a smaller astromech with a gray dome with yellow streaks, and a gray body with dark gray feet. And two panels opened up showing two small articulating hands that waved at her as she came to the ship.
"Yes, I'm back Cheep, G-G. Start up the ship, we've got to get going, we have our coordinates!"
The Mandalorian's steel boots walked to her ship and marched up the hatch and inside. She slammed the button to close the hatch behind her, waiting for it to fully seal. Climbing up a ladder, she moved up into the main cockpit, strapping herself in, with her astromechs sitting inside, waiting for her. They flipped on some controls, and the Mandalorian entered the coordinates.
"Next stop, Arvala-7."
The thrusters ignited, pulling the ship off the ground and into the air. The landing gear folded inside the ship and the thrusters spun around so they could take off for the skies. The hyperdrive powered up, and in a flash it shot out of the planet's atmosphere on its way to Arvala-7.
As the ship was set on autopilot, the Mandalorian took this time to move over to her workstation, and try to see if she could build something new. She dug through some metal bins, pulling out some spare droid parts. Arms, legs, fingers, some heads, a bunch of random junk. And nearby, G-G stood still, waiting for word if she needed help.
"Birt brrt beep brt?"
"No G-G, I don't need your help right now. I'm just trying to see if I have anything available for another commando... there has to be something..."
"Beep bop boop brit brr."
"I can't just stop to buy something, I'm saving up for more Jawa Juice."
She pulled out a few arms, mostly just standard battle droid arms. She grabbed two, setting them down on the workbench table, next to the torso that had yet to be finished with the rest of the body. And eventually she found a set of legs to go with it; mismatched, but they would have to do. Only one problem.
She dug through another bin, scrounging around like mad, but wound up frustrated. She slammed the box on the ground and rubbed at the top of her helmeted head. And there laid the problem; she had all limbs, but no heads. Another market trip she was gonna have to make, not something she was particularly fond of. Shopping wasn't an issue, but shopping on the black market with all of the shady customers and vendors; it was the seedy underworld of markets. Never know if you're truly buying something valuable, or if you're being conned for your cash. She almost fell for a scam to get incredibly valuable armor and items, but found out soon that it was nothing more than a cash-grab by a shady snake-oil salesman.
"Chirp?"
"What is it Cheep?"
"Chirp chirp chirrrrp chirp."
"We've arrived?"
"Chirp!"
"Okay, I'm coming up," she said. "We'll have to see about making some new ones later, G-G. We're going to have to hit the Tatooine market again."
The Mandalorian climbed up the ladder and got back into the cockpit, sitting back down in the pilot control chair. The ship burst through the planet's atmosphere, slowly heading straight down on some open space, just near a small cliff that led down a hill to a small base. Landing gear unfolded and a pair of legs gently sat on the ground, while the engines slowly powered down.
Climbing down the ladder, the Mandalorian looked at a wall, revealing a docking type of system which had a few bipedal droids standing, currently offline. Most of them were droids she had started to build but had to stop halfway in between, mainly because she had a job to do or not enough time for herself.
Pressing a button, she walked right past them and down the walkway hatch to the outside. She jumped from out of her ship, landing on her feet. Her head went up, looking ahead at the rocky valley. And several figures jumped from the ship right beside her; rebuilt, reprogrammed and repurposed commando droids. Most of them were in peak condition, but some had one or two parts reused from other battle droids. Regardless, they still were functional. And there was even some small marks that the Mandalorian had branded them with so she could make sure they were hers, with the addition of some paint.
The group ran down the path, stopping alongside some bigger rocks to take cover. They were sitting on top of a cliff, and just up ahead was the base they needed to go to. But there was one problem; guards were outside, Ithorian ones at that. And with plenty of guns. The Mandalorian pulled out a set of binoculars, looking down at the activity below, looking around. And a commando droid next to her looked as well, searching for any guards.
“Ten guards posted outside,” the commando droid responded.
“Should be easy.”
“Wait a minute. New target,” the second commando droid responded, pointing with his replacement arm.
“What new target?”
The bounty hunter looked up, and now she understood who he was referring to. Aurra Sing, marching up to the guards ever so casually. One of the guards saw her and started grumbling at her, yelling something in their native language.
Aurra however did not get scared so easily and she did not pull back. Instead she just faced the one Ithorian who got up close, watched as he went for his gun and—
BAM!
The guard went down, and Aurra’s hands swung her pistols out as she shot the other two standing guards, even looking up at the ones coming from behind her and from up on top of one of the buildings.
“There goes the element of surprise,” the Mandalorian groaned. “Come on, we better get down there.”
The Mandalorian and the commando droids jumped and slid down the cliff they were on, creating dust clouds right behind them. Running into the base, the group threw themselves against some cover just as a precaution.
“Aurra!”
Aurra spun around and nearly shot the Mandalorian who dropped to the ground from near shock. “Hey, hey! I was hired with you! I’m in the Guild for crying out loud,” she yelled, holding up her badge.
“You’re a Guild member?”
“Yes, Aurra, I am,” the Mandalorian retorted. “Now can you not shoot me for two seconds?”
“The bounty is mine. I want that fifty-thousand credits,” Aurra snarled.
“Well in case you didn’t notice, you’re empty handed. And I don’t know how well you plan to get inside just by yourself, regardless of how tough you are.”
Aurra glared at her. “Big talk coming from someone who had to come here with commando droids.”
The Mandalorian growled, looking at the entrance, and then back at Aurra. “How about this; since neither one of us are going to be able to get inside, how about we bust down these guards together? We can shoot them all out, my droids can restrain the Jedi, we get the cargo and split the reward. Fair enough?”
Aurra was honestly thinking of just shooting her in the helmet and ending it now, she didn’t want to be sharing with anyone. But on the other hand, she heard the rumors of how tough these commando droids were and she had things she wanted to do before she died so she wasn’t about to risk it. And if this bounty hunter was as good as the Storm general made her out to be, maybe she could be useful.
“Fine. We’ll bring in this cargo together. But do not get in my way,” Aurra warned.
“You too.”
A red laser shot at a can nearby, and Aurra ran for cover, hiding in the same space as the Mandalorian and her crew of droids. The two of them held their heads back, avoiding being blasted in the heads.
"Okay boys, time to fight! Go!"
The commando droids all rolled out and took cover and positions to shoot at the incoming guards. Some hid behind some debris like cans and the fountain in the middle of the base, others took positions behind beams, sniping at targets up on some of the buildings or coming around the stairs.
One of the guards shot a commando droid in the chest, which did hit it enough to make it bend his back so far he was about to fall... except he just flipped his upper torso back up and just kept shooting.
"I see why you picked commando droids as partners," Aurra commented, firing at some more Ithorians, blasting some of them in the heads.
"They have tough armor, but they're not unstoppable," The Mandalorian said, firing rapid shots to the legs of the guards as opposed to the heads.
"Why are you shooting their legs?"
"Can't run after you without being able to stand, now can they?"
The women ducked their heads from another laser blast, striking an empty fuel cell nearby.
"I'll take them out from that building there, I have a sniper rifle with me," Aurra yelled over the fire, charging for the stairs, shooting more guards along the way.
Rolling from the cover, she stood on her own two feet and fired with the best she got. Two guards hiding behind a barricade fired, and the Mandalorian fired back with two of her commandos, waiting for them to pop out of their space. Once they were back up, all three shot for the shoulders and weapons, taking them out at once. Another guard appeared from the left, holding a machine gun and shooting like a madman, but the commandos shot him more than his gun could.
Another guard came behind, ready to knock the Mandalorian down, but being swatted like a fly from the commando droid accompanied by Aurra firing a single laser into his head did the job. The commando droids saw her taking cover in one of the smaller buildings, right on top the roof. The woman loaded up her sniper rifle, getting into position. She focused it on one guard planning to shoot the Mandalorian in the back and BAM, he dropped dead. Another Ithorian tried to run straight at the intruders a little too late as a laser blast to the skull took care of him, and so did his friend who immediately ran for cover but ran too late.
She kept her eye looking through the scope as she surveyed the courtyard some more, looking for any more guards. Just a bunch of dead bodies on the floor, and a Mandalorian who gave her the all clear signal to come down. She put her rifle away and jumped off the ledge she was on, joining the rest of the group.
"Nice shots, Aurra," the Mandalorian complimented.
"Thanks kid. You're not bad, yourself," she said back. "But you missed one," she pointed to the last guard struggling to get up.
The Mandalorian snapped her fingers, and a single commando droid charged at him to finish him off. He swung a blade around, smacking him in the head hard enough to knock him unconscious. Same tactic used for taking down some of the clone troopers to move quick and fast.
"That should be the last of them, unless there are more inside the compound," the Mandalorian said, turning around with Aurra. The two looked at the doors, feeling how tough the outside was for a second. And off to the side was a control box, most likely locked. “Get these doors open,” the Mandalorian ordered.
“Roger roger,” the commando droid replied. His fingers pried the box open, and his fingers started ripping a few of the cords. Some sparks sizzled until finally the doors opened. More guards appeared to blast them, but Aurra shot at them like a cowboy, not even flinching.
Finally, the doors slid open, revealing nothing but darkness inside. It was quiet, with no sounds but their own footsteps. Then in a micro-second, the silence died and a noise had broken it.
"Hold it right there, widowmaker!"
The sound of a lightsaber powering on got their attention, along with the minty green glow coming from the right of the room. A green woman with minty green skin, along with minty green and white hair, golden eyes, wearing tan Jedi robes with dark maroon boots.
"You! I remember you, Jedi brat!" Aurra snared. Her arm twisted out and shot another incoming guard without so much as even a stare.
"You know this Jedi?" The Mandalorian asked.
"Not personally," Aurra answered. "She left me for dead!"
"You assassinated a senator, you crashed an Alliance cruiser, and killed my clones!" Lyra retorted, still holding her lightsaber steady. "I'm honestly surprised you're back to work so soon," Lyra growled.
"Well a girl's gotta make a living." Aurra smirked. "And if you don't stand aside, I will have to kill you. I'd like to haul your carcass back to the Storm Army to make an example out of you, but my time is limited. Now get out of our way."
"Never."
Aurra chuckled evilly. "You really have a death wish today, don't you?"
She didn't give a warning before pulling out her pistols, shooting up a storm at Lyra who tried her best to block most of those blasts. But try as she could, she wasn't fast enough and she felt the hot stinging pain of a laser blast hitting her in the shoulder.
"AGH!"
Aurra laughed maniacally. "Not so tough as you made yourself out to be? Last time we met, I thought you made some claims about how great you are."
Lyra glared. "You're clearly thinking about Trixie. I never once declared myself as that great or powerful!"
"Whatever. Miss Mandalorian, I think your commandos can hold her, right? We should --"
A wailing noise interrupted their taunt-fest, just over in a corner. Lyra, Aurra, and the Mandalorian all looked over at a small hovering container looking thing where the noise came from. That noise, it sounded like... crying.
"What the heck...?"
"Commandos, keep her in place, but don't kill her."
Lyra was about to move but the commandos rushed in and grabbed her, holding her in place. Hands gripping her arms, and an arm went around her neck, holding her back even more.
“No,” Lyra whimpered, trying to fight. "Don't! That's not the cargo!"
The Mandalorian ignored her, and pulled the top off. But when she and Aurra looked inside--
"What?”
A small fuzzy blanket was seen inside the containment piece, underneath a plush snail. A soft pale hand slowly moved the covers off, revealing more of her blue and purple hair. Two soft blue eyes opening and blinking, looking at the two figures standing above her, clearly afraid.
“A baby…?” The Mandalorian gasped. “I thought they said this was cargo, how is this… this is not…”
Aurra did not like the sound of her voice. “Don't tell me you're thinking of quitting this job, are you now?” Aurra said, raising a brow.
“When they hired us, they said to pick up cargo. They never said this 'cargo' was a living child! I will happily steal spice, fuel, weapons, jewelry, credits, I'll even steal a lightsaber, whatever! But taking a child?”
Aurra smirked. “Then if you don't mind, I'll be taking the bounty on this one. After I eliminate our Jedi friend here.”
The guns turned around and pointed at Lyra who still struggled to fight her restraints against the commando droids.
“Hold on, why kill the Jedi?” The Mandalorian asked.
“Oh you didn’t know? I’ve been told that Jedi lightsabers are rather valuable. I think hers might give me a bigger paycheck.”
Lyra couldn’t see a way out of this one. She was held by commando droids, two bounty hunters were outmatching her, and she had no friends out here who could step in to stop her. But as her eyes were slowly closing to await death’s cold embrace…
ZAP.
She heard a body fall and hit the floor. Opening up her eyes, she saw Aurra Sing had dropped to the floor, unconscious. And the Mandalorian’s gun slowly moving back into her holster. She assumed she had used a stun blaster, if she hadn’t killed her. But she was completely shocked; this bounty hunter just turned on that other hunter, unwilling to take the baby. But why?
Lyra heard a body fall and hit the floor. Opening up her eyes, she saw Aurra Sing had dropped to the floor, unconscious. And the Mandalorian’s gun slowly moving back into her holster. She assumed she had used a stun blaster, if she hadn’t killed her.
"I’m taking you to my ship. But let me get one thing clear with you, Jedi,” the Mandalorian said, walking up to the Jedi. Lyra was about to say something until she felt her wrists grabbed and slapped with a pair of cuffs that the Mando put on her. “You’re going to do what I say for the trip. I will take you to a safer location, for you and the baby, but you do as I say. Got it?”
Lyra nodded. “Got it. But why are—”
“Quiet,” the Mandalorian pointed, sternly. Lyra just shut her mouth, waiting for her to finish. “There’s a possible chance of more bounty hunters coming to this very location to find the baby, so if we’re leaving, we need to leave without getting them to desire to go after us. Hopefully that stun will keep Aurra down, but we must move quickly. Come!”
She led the way, and soon the crib carrying the baby floated right with them, next to the Mandalorian. And right behind her was two of the commando droids, Lyra, and two more commandos behind her. The Jedi looked over to the crib, looking at the stressed out baby, giving a somewhat hopeful smile. "It's okay, I'm here. We're going to be alright."
“Cheep, G-G, start up the Sweetie Drop. We’re getting out of here,” the Mandalorian said, patching into her com device.
“Brt-beep-boop.”
"Chirp chirp."
“Thank you,” the Mandalorian replied, looking at her ship just ahead. “Now if we can just—”
“—Where are you going?”
“… Scrap.”
Cad Bane stood, hat tilted down to hide his eyes as his body faced the Mandalorian. He didn't show fear, for he had none Not even against the rustbucket commando droids that were standing by her side.
"If you would be so kind as to hand over the bounty, I will be leaving with it and leave you alone," Bane suggested.
“Bane, they’re my bounty. And if you think you’re going to be taking mine—”
The commando droids all turned their weapons on him.
“—You have another thing coming. And all of them are pointing at your heads. One blast to your skull and your brain is fried.”
"I wouldn't be so hasty if I were you," Cad warned.
Bane slowly backed up, but he had other ideas. He wasn’t about to let her leave with this bounty so soon, but then a signal started to call to him on the com device. Bane answered, and unfortunately, Lyra and the others heard the signal.
“The cargo is the baby. The Mandalorian is escaping with the cargo and the Jedi, and she knocked me out. She’s helping the Jedi!”
Only one thought ran through the Mandalorian’s head. Oh no.
Cad Bane was ready shoot at the Mandalorian, except she came prepared. She charged at him, sweeping a leg under him to throw him on his back. Then taking her chance, she fired an electric shock to his body to zap him, rendering his body limp.
"That'll keep him down for a small time, come on!"
She yanked on Lyra's cuffs, forcing her to run with her. And the commandos along with the hovering crib followed closeby.
“Cheep, is that ship ready!?” The Mandalorian yelled. “Because we really could use it right now!”
"Chir chirp chirp!"
"Good! Prepare for take off, we need to leave, now!"
Now everyone was running. Even though Cad Bane was hit with an electric shock, it wasn't strong enough to keep him down. He pulled himself right back up and launched into the air with his rocket boots, firing some shots from the air.
"If you uncuff me, I can deflect some of his blasts!"
"I'm not dumb enough to fall for that trick, Jedi!" The Mandalorian argued, still leading her to the ship.
And to make matters worse, Aurra was running closeby. She was now joining the chase, running close behind Bane's flying feet.
"Chirp choowoop."
"Got it Cheep! Keep your head down, Jedi!"
The ship was starting to take off from the ground, preparing for take off as per ordered. And once the two bounty hunters came into perspective, Cheep and G-G got to work. A turret mounted on the top of the ship turned around and focused on Cad Bane. Rapidly, lasers started to fire towards Bane, forcing him to duck and fly lower to get out of the turret's sight.
Aurra, now within range, started to shoot at them with everything she had. Rapid fire of her pistols came their way, hitting a few of the commando droids, but not enough to take them down. Lyra and the baby went into the ship first, followed by the commando droids. Now the last one remaining was the Mandalorian who wanted to exchange one final word with the two chasing her.
"The bounty belongs to me, Aurra, Bane. Find some other bounty to get rich off of!"
She ran up the hatch and soon it closed right behind her. The ship's feet folded inside itself as it began to get off the ground. Aurra kept firing, but her shots were worthless against the ship's armor. And with one blast of the engines, the Sweetie Drop was out of the planet's skies, flying straight out of the atmosphere.
"That Mandalorian is helping the Jedi escape," Aurra growled.
"We'll make sure she doesn't get away," Bane said, clicking his wrist-com. "We're going to make some calls to everyone else after that bounty... I'm sure we can all come to some sort of agreement."
There was some... awkwardness, to say the least. Lyra wanted to say something to the Mandalorian since they arrived, but she had been so eerily quiet that Lyra swore this girl was about to threaten her and do something nefarious, even though she said nothing at all. Didn't make matters better by the fact that her wrists were bound in cuffs. She tried wiggling her hands out of them, but no luck. Too tight around her, but not enough to cut off any blood to her vessels.
"Where are you taking us?"
She waited for an answer, but the Mandalorian didn't say anything. She just kept her hands clamped onto the controls, focused too much on not crashing or getting off-course. Lyra was about to give up on getting an answer--
"--I'm taking you and the infant far away from this section of the galaxy. I'll drop you off on Naboo, and you can find yourselves a ride back to wherever you want to go. But once you're off, I'm leaving. So don't think about saying any goodbyes to me."
"Why are you helping us? And are you even going to take us there, or are you just going to trick me and--"
The Mandalorian slammed her feet on the floor to stand up. She looked over to the Jedi, standing over her and she leaned in, helmet in close to her face.
"I said I would take you back, and I mean it. I'm a lot of things, but I draw the line at taking children. Got it?"
Lyra gulped and slowly nodded. "Got it."
"Good."
The bounty hunter stopped hunching over and sat back down in her chair, flipping more controls. "I have plenty of food down in the first level for you and your baby, you won't go hungry. But it's going to take a few days to get back, so I don't want to hear anything about why it's taking so long."
"I wasn't going to ask that anyway," Lyra deadpanned.
"The point I'm making is that this trip is going to take some time. So until we get to Naboo, I don't want you causing me trouble or else I'm slamming you into the carbon freezing chamber," The bounty hunter threatened.
"You wouldn't dare," Lyra grit her teeth. "Besides, how would you be able to take care of the baby?"
And speak of the devil, suddenly the sound of a crying baby interrupted their spat-fest. Their heads looked over to the crib, their argument apparently made the baby stressed out.
"... Is that baby going to be crying on the whole trip?"
"She won't if I can pick her up and talk to her. Only if you can get these cuffs off me," Lyra sassed, raising her wrists.
The Mandalorian really did not like that option. "How do I know you're not just going to use some Jedi mind trick on me and take over my ship?"
"Well how do I know you're not just going to hand us straight to the Storm Empire?" Lyra retorted.
There was some silence in the cockpit, well, aside from the baby still crying. The Mandalorian was hesitant, and she cursed to herself quite hard as she grabbed a key to unlock the Jedi's cuffs.
"If you play any tricks, I will lock you in carbonite for the rest of the trip," the bounty hunter warned, freeing her hands.
Lyra, now freed from her restraints, rubbed her wrists which had been pressed against the hard metal for some time. But she was happy to finally be out of them. And with her attention back to the baby, she slowly picked up the crying baby, carrying her out of the cockpit and into the open space where the ladder was leading to.
The baby's crying slowly dwindled as she felt the familiar person she knew was here with her. And seeing Lyra's face made the baby smile even more.
"It's okay Flurry, your sorta-mommy is here," she said, booping the baby's nose and making her giggle.
The Mandalorian sat quiet, listening to the Jedi comforting the baby. Mainly just to make sure she wasn't going to pull any tricks on her. She had run-ins with Jedi before who tried to pull a fast one on her, but she knew how to evade them. Though she had to admit, this Jedi was quite a natural with the infant.
"It'll be okay... shhh..." Lyra kissed her head, and gave her another hug, and the baby softly giggled while hugging her back. "Hey Flurry? You feeling hungry, sweetie?"
The Mandalorian didn't understand how the baby could easily understand the Jedi, but somehow the baby did. Lyra, holding the baby tight, climbed down the ladder to the bottom floor, down to the kitchen. The bounty hunter didn't move from where she sat, curious as to how things were going to go with her down below.
"Cheep. Keep an eye on those two. If they try any funny business, tell me," the Mandalorian reported into her comlink.
Down below, Lyra walked into the kitchen, opening up the fridge. She looked through some of the contents, looking for something, any kind of drink she could give the baby. Surprisingly she was able to find actual milk. Lyra assumed that for a bounty hunter of this kind which this huge ship that she would have bought heaven knows how much whiskey or beer or alcoholic beverages of any kind.
"Thank you, Mando," Lyra said to herself, grabbing some milk. She force lifted a baby bottle, pouring some milk into it for the baby. And with some happy giggling from the toddler, she reached for the bottle once Lyra had finished preparing it, given by Lyra's adult fingers.
Over in the corner, Cheep had just been sitting in a charging station to get some more power fuled within. But his attention was soon drawn to the newcomer that was now in the kitchen area. And after getting that order from his boss, he wasn't about to disobey. The charging ports removed themselves and Cheep was now free to move walk around however and whereever he pleased.
"Chorup chirp chirp chirp."
"Oh hi there," Lyra said, looking at the small astromech. "You're a C1 series astromech aren't you?"
"Chir chirp."
"I thought so. Didn't know this Mando had one. What's your name?"
"Chirp chirp."
"Cheep?" Lyra tilted her head. "Your name is Cheep?"
The small astromech bobbed his body back and forth, nodding. And even a small hand pulled out from the side of his dome, waving at her.
"Okay, nice to meet you, Cheep. I'm Lyra," Lyra extended a hand out, and surprisingly got a handshake from the small astromech. And she felt something bump her side, a much bigger astromech with a cone-sized dome. "Oh, sorry buddy, I can't believe I didn't see you there."
"Brt beep birt birp."
"G-G?" The Jedi tilted her head.
"Brt boop."
"Well, it's nice to meet you too, G-G. I'm Lyra."
The R4 series droid rolled right past her, sitting right next to Cheep as they stared up at their new prisoner. Surprisingly, this prisoner did not attempt to find a means to escape or try and fight back.
"... Do you two need food as well?" Lyra snickered.
The two droids just shook their heads, not keeping their eyes off her.
"Chirp chirp, chir chir chirp."
"Guys, I'm not going to try anything funny. As long as your boss doesn't try and turn herself around on me."
"Birt beep bop birt birup."
"And what makes you say that?" Lyra put her free hand on her hip, giving a glare.
Lyra's hand scrunched her face. "Lemme get this straight, she said she'd bring you to a safer place to be and because she rescued you two, it means you both can say she's trustworthy?"
"She can be trusted, Jedi," a new voice emerged. This one was coming from one of those junky commando droids, this one showing a standard battle droid arm and leg replacing two of it's missing limbs. "I was sent to the scrapheap until she put me back together. She saved me from permanent destruction."
"I can believe she put you back together, but saving you?" Lyra asked, still not believing. "Why would you even agree to stay with her?"
"She gave all of us a choice. Something the Storm Empire never did."
The other repurposed commando droids clanked their feet, standing next to their allies, a unity of six now staring at Lyra; two astromechs, and four commandos.
"And what did she give you all that the Storm Empire didn't?"
"Freedom."
That one word echoed from all of them like a megaphone was screeching in her ears. But she wasn't about to question it; and why should she? She was trapped on board a ship with a bounty hunter who had fully functioning commando droids at her disposal. There was no use in trying to argue her way out.
"Okaaaay then..."
As time went by, Lyra kept the baby distracted the rest of the evening, and out of the Mandalorian's hair. The commando droids eventually left her alone and set themselves on the little docks to charge up, but the two astromechs stayed out to continue to talk and just hang out overall.
But now it was time for the two of them to go to bed, even as little Flurry yawned, she still tried to deny she was asleep. Lyra was not convinced, she knew when it was the baby's bedtime. And Flurry cutely playing with the buttons on the wall still didn't convince her.
"Flurry, no. Stop playing with the button. Let's get your jammies on," Lyra giggled, setting the child down on the blanket. And Flurry still tried to get away. "No huh? I think someone's getting a little cranky," she sassed playfully.
After holding her down, she finally got Flurry's pajamas on and slowly set her down on the blanket covering the small table to get her bottle. Still, Flurry was trying to get back up to get her drink, and on her own. If a grown-up could do it, so could she!
"Sweetie, I'm getting your warm milk in a second," she said, trying to get her to stay still. She went over to the kitchen area, setting some milk in a baby bottle. And with the instructions left by the bounty hunter, she found just the means to warm it up.
The baby's little hands clutched her milk and she started to suck on the bottle, enjoying the deliciousness of good wholesome milk.
"Shhh... shhh..." Lyra whispered, shaking her softly. "All of the little crabbies have gone night-night, all of the little Tauntauns are cuddling up, all of the Porgs are resting in their nests..." She smiled, seeing the baby was slowly falling to sleep, with the help of the warm milk. "All of the crystal foxes are heading to their stead... and my little powerhouse is going to bed."
She slowly put the baby back in the crib, and covered her in the blanket. Lyra leaned in and gave her one soft kiss.
"Sweet dreams, Flurry."
Once all that she heard was the baby soft snores, she started to settle in for the night as well. She climbed into the spare bed that was unfolded, and laid down on, cuddling up on a pillow and blanket that was offered. And so Lyra, fell asleep.
Unbeknownst to her, the Mandalorian was climbing down the ladder to check on them, making sure they were still behaving. She had a long trip ahead of her, and didn't need any of them causing her any kind of trouble. The deck was thankfully quiet. Didn't seem like she would make much noise, outside of the baby crying if she was needing something, but it wasn't something she was going to bother with. It was the Jedi's baby, not hers after all.
Her metal boots did stir the baby a little, waking her up, but she didn't cry. Curious, she looked up to see who it was, but quickly hid back under her blanket when she saw the scary metal lady. The Mandalorian turned her head, seeing the baby cowering under the blanket, but she decided to leave her alone. She didn't want nor intend to antagonize the baby anyway.
She whipped her to the corner, watching as Cheep and G-G were keeping themselves busy, simply playing the holochess game with the sounds muted so they didn't disturb the others. Seeing that the situation was under control and there would be nothing else to worry about, she turned around and climbed back up the ladder to continue flying. She had a LONG trip ahead of her if she wanted to get to Naboo.
Flurry slowly pulled the cover of her blanket off, peaking to see if that big scary metal wearing monster was there. No, she wasn't in her sight. Not in her sights any longer, the coast was clear. She was safe now.
Pulling her blanket off, she peaked over to the spare bed that had been pulled out, seeing Lyra sleeping peacefully. And then over in a corner, just playing on the holochess area were the two astromechs she saw earlier. Carefully, she grabbed the edge of her crib, slowly moving around. One leg moved off to the side while the other slowly followed behind, and she flopped onto the ground, thankfully not hurt. She slowly stood back up, and very cutely straightening her little robes that her aunt had made her, and looked at the two robots in front of her.
And that one thud was enough for them to pause their game and to divert their attention towards the infant.
"Chirup?"
"Brt boop."
The baby wasn't scared to see that these things had noticed her. She still kept waddling towards them. Cheep wasn't sure what to do until the baby suddenly moved closer to him and laid herself on him, trying to hug him.
"Beep beep."
Cheep didn't move, afraid he was gonna hurt the baby. And then when she looked up, one of Cheep's smaller hands extended out, and lightly patted her on the head, making her giggle. Her little fingers reached up, trying to touch his little claw.
The little astromech honestly thought anyone who tried to do that was going to rip them off, but he didn't feel this way with this little girl. She just seemed so cute and nice. And softly, his claw reached down and allowed her to grip him slightly, just so she could feel his little hand. The baby looked up, cooing in awe, and moved in for another hug, feeling a soft metal hand pat her on the back.
The next day, the Sweetie Drop finally came out of hyperspace, outside of a desert planet; Florrum. A world owned by some of the most nefarious beings in the galaxy, Weequay pirates. Those marauding miscreants were always in the shipping lanes of the Outer Rim Territories, looking for cargo to claim for their own, or travelers to hold for ransom money. Now Florrum remained their stronghold, which held just enough food, drink, places to stay, and one of their most valuable resource, spice.
While these pirates stole from everyone and could steal practically everything, they stayed away from the conflict of the war, preferring to remain neutral only if there was no chance of making any kind of profit. And these were just the kind of people that the Mandalorian needed to meet right now. The Sweetie Drop flew through the clouds and headed straight down to the landing space, unfolding the landing gear. Now that it was parked, the engines slowly powered down.
The Jedi Knight felt the ship sitting still, and pulled herself up. She saw the Mandalorian climbed down her ladder, with a small bag and a handful of credits in her pouch.
"Why have we stopped?" Lyra asked.
"I'm just stopping to get some fuel and pick up a package, it shouldn't take too long," The Mandalorian said, grabbing her guns.
"Does this pickup include killing anyone?"
The Mandalorian didn't turn her body around to face her, only turning her head slightly, peaking out the side. "No, it does not. I'll be back, just try not to touch anything or blow anything up?"
"I'm protective, not dumb," Lyra snarked.
"Just..." The Mandalorian sighed, shaking her head. She pressed the button to open the hatch, and the walkway opened up, bringing light from the outside into the ship. She walked down, leaving the Jedi, the baby, and her astromechs alone.
As the Mandalorian walked down, a few heads of Weequays turned to look at her, gawking at her armor. But then their eyes looked over at the captain who held total control of everyone and everything in this lovely port. A long red coat with no dust or ripped pieces of thread, only weighed down by the metal padding on his broad shoulders. A pair of green tinted goggles, only implementing more marks into his wrinkled face. And to top it off, black cap to hide his unruly head, but not his friendly smile.
"Ah, my best customer, welcome back to Florrum," The man chuckled.
"Good to see you again, Hondo," The Mandalorian greeted.
"What brings you back here?"
"I need to fuel up, and if you don't mind, if any of your boys have anything available to buy..."
The leader of the pirates just laughed. "Of course, of course! Please, follow me. Boys, please give our guest her fuel."
"Right boss."
Lyra peaked her head down the hatch, looking to see where the Mandalorian was going. She was going away with Hondo, oh joy. Hopefully she wouldn't be back for too long, and, wait a minute. She was walking away from the ship... and no one was guarding her, or holding her hostage. Now was her chance to escape!
Not taking any chances, she opened up the crib and pulled the baby out, holding her in a comfortable stance that still had a strong grip on her.
"Hang on, sweetie, we're getting out of here," Lyra said, calmly. The baby gave confused babbles, and Lyra shook her head. "Don't worry, we're going to be okay."
"Chorup? Chirp chirp chirp."
"Cheep, I'm sorry, but we're not staying here. We need to leave. I hope whatever happens to you and the rest of your boys is a continuous good journey," Lyra said, walking out of the ship. Cheep waved his arms in protest, but Lyra just ignored him. The baby whined a little bit as she waved goodbye, but she couldn't get out to give him a hug. Lyra would have to find something for the baby to hug another time.
Slipping past the Weequays who were honoring their word (surprisingly) by fueling up the ship's tanks, Lyra managed to roll right on past them and found herself into an open space where dozens of Weequays and various sketchy characters walked about. An open market where various items were sold either for outrageous prices, or items that were stolen to be sold on black market deals. This was clearly some black market area. However, she wasn't about to do anything to stop them, not that she could. Even then, she had to find a way out off this planet before the Mandalorian came searching for her.
"Okay, let's see, if we pay one of these pirates handsomely, maybe we can get ourselves a ride or a ship. Assuming we can find something," Lyra said out loud, with the baby being the only one to listen.
Click.
"Hand over the asset, Jedi. And no one dies," a feminine voice spoke.
Little Flurry whimpered when she saw the scary lady with horns on her head. Lyra could hear the gun clicking, and only turned her head slightly. A pale-skinned Zabrak woman was the one holding the trigger, ready to kill.
"Waki der, e zeperai?"
And so was Embo.
"Aren't you two working together or something?" Lyra asked, raising a brow.
"The Storm Empire demands that you hand over the asset at once."
And now IG-88 was here.
"So make that three?"
"Correction," Dengar said, pointing a pistol at her. "Four of us."
"Hand over the asset, or face termination," IG-88 emphasized, holding up his two pistols.
Lyra could see she was outnumbered. One wrong move and she'd get hurt, and worse, they'd take Flurry. She wasn't about to let any of that happen. Fighting her urge to smirk, she started to talk.
"Okay. I'll hand over the asset... but who am I taking it to? I mean, you four don't seem like the kind that would work together as a team, and clearly two of you are a team, and well, you two clearly came alone, so that's three different types that are here for the asset soooo who do I hand it to?" Lyra asked playfully.
"Hand it over to us," Sugi pushed her gun at Lyra's face.
"Hold on now. I found her first, the asset is mine," Dengar slapped her gun away from Lyra's face, now getting into the Zabrak's face.
"Technically speaking you arrived last, but the asset is mine," IG-88 declared.
Embo started to butt in as well, speaking something in various profanities that made Lyra cover Flurry's ears. No way she was ready to have her innocence taken from her, especially at this age. Well, more of her innocence, really.
Now that she had her chance to depart, she started to make a run for it. She was proud of herself, fooling them all without having to use a single mind trick. However, it seemed like it didn't work for all of them...
"Hand over the asset or be terminated," IG-88 declared as he marched after Lyra.
IG-88 completely ignored the other hunters in-fighting, and kept his primary objective to obtaining that asset. He was a droid, he wasn't going to allow their fighting to stray him away from this. Lyra looked back at the IG unit who still followed her, trying to track her down and not lose her.
She had to think of something, fast! But what? Wait, what was she thinking, she was running in an open market with a bunch of Weequay pirates, they had to have guns on them!
"This IG unit has buyer's remorse!" Lyra shouted as she ran past them.
"Buyer's remorse, now huh?"
Some of the Weequays stepped out to stand in the way of the IG unit, keeping him from leaving. One of them was ready to shoot the assassin, but IG-88 was programmed to handle this kind of situation. His arm swung a gun up and fired at the first Weequay who was ready to shoot.
Another pirate was ready to fire, but IG-88 threw his other arm up and shot back. Two pirates from the sides were ready to shoot this time, except the assassin was ready for them. His entire upper torso spun around and his arms extended, shooting the two pirates at once, not even moving his legs. Another one got ready to shoot, and he went down as well. With only one more ready to shoot from behind, but one of his scope eyes turned to look and shot him before he had a chance.
His eyes spun back around, and focused back onto Lyra who was getting further away.
"Idiot. Never send a droid to do a man's job," Dengar snarled, pulling out a gun and charging right past him. He pulled the trigger a few times, but with no success hitting any shot on Lyra, only managing to hit pieces of market stands, barrels, and walls.
Dengar fired more shots at Lyra, hitting more andom barrels and cargo crates around her. But when he shot again, she blocked the shot with a quick lightsaber swing, which unintentionally bounced off and shot one of the Weequay shop-keepers in the shoulder, making him drop.
Lyra's eyes and mouth drooped as she put her lightsaber away, and the other shop-owner glared at her with murderous intent.
"Um... he did it," Lyra pointed at Dengar.
"WHAT!?"
Suddenly the Weequay pirate pulled out a gun and started to shoot at Dengar, and he shot back. And very soon more pirates started to join the fight, all pulling out their guns and firing at Dengar and the rest of the bounty hunters. Now everybody in the market started to pull out their guns and shoot at them like madmen.
Lyra took one look at the situation and cursed herself internally. This may not have been the best idea...
“Oh, before I forget, I wanted to give you a little present,” Hondo chuckled, watching his pirate boys haul something large and heavy over to her. It looked like a damaged tactician droid, those Storm Empire models used to command legions of battle droids and Stormtroopers. This one was purple and gold in color, and was rapidly falling apart with each step. “Some Storm boys forgot a few battle droids, and I know how much you like to make things your own. I thought you could take this one with you.”
“Oh this one’s perfect,” the Mandalorian said, gleefully grabbing the parts. She lifted the head, flipping it around to look further. “K2-B4. I will be making heavy use of this one.”
Their happy words were interrupted with the sounds of laserfire somewhere down in the market, making them turn their heads.
"Is it usual for your boys to start shooting up in the market?"
"Only if we have rowdy customers," Hondo said walking over to check out the fight.
One of the pirates came running out of the fight, panting and breathing heavily. "Some bounty hunters are causing a ruckus. They're after a Jedi and some little brat."
"What!? I told them to stay put, ohhh that's it!" The Mandalorian pushed past the pirate and darted straight into the market fight. When finally walked into the ruckus, she watched the entire scene unfold before her; pirates shooting up a storm at the bounty hunters, into the skies as they let out the call of the wild, and some even beating each other up, weirdly.
Through that crowd, she was able to find Lyra running with the baby in her arms. And not too far behind, pushing through the crowd like a tank was IG-88, blasting and shooting anyone in his path.
"What the devil?"
The Jedi did a ninja jump over a stand, and over another table, kicking it down for some cover. She ducked behind it, trying to keep herself safe from the onslaught. The Mandalorian ran over to her position and slammed her armored against the cover.
"I told you to stay in the ship!" The Mandalorian yelled. "I said I'd bring you and the baby to Naboo, and I meant it!"
"You handcuffed me!" Lyra argued.
"Because I can't trust you to go running off alone!"
"Well how am I supposed to trust you then!? Especially when you drag me to your ship in handcuffs!"
"I was making the illusion of you being my prisoner, I was going to free you... eventually," The Mandalorian said, ducking some more fire. "Listen, I promise I won't do that again, but we have to get out of here together, are you with me?"
Lyra blocked another laser blast with her lightsaber, gritting her teeth. "Alright, fine! But do not kill anyone!"
"I haven't killed anyone... today. Can we discuss this later!?"
"Fine!"
The two of them jumped out of hiding, joining the firefight. Lyra swung her lightsaber around, blocking every laserblast that came close to hitting her body. The Mandalorian twirled her gun around, shooting at some pirates who were now focused on trying to shoot them straight back.
"Do not let them get the baby! We have to escape!"
The Mandalorian fired multiple shots at Sugi who managed to dodge every shot. Sugi flipped a knife around from her boots, and ran at the Mandalorian, attempting to slash at her.
"You're very persistent!"
"We will be leaving with the asset. I am a woman of my word, and I do not break deals," Sugi growled, swinging her blade at her.
"Too bad the deal you're doing a part of has no honor," the Mandalorian huffed, kicking her in the stomach, and pushing Sugi away from her. Embo soon saw this, and now he knew who to maim. He began a running charge, lifting his bowcaster to fire a few shots at the Mandalorian. The Mandalorian shot back, managing to get the gun out of his hands, but it didn't stop him from running.
Embo brushed through several of the pirates in his way. The Mandalorian braced herself for impact, waiting to feel a heavy bang against her body. She waited... and waited... but there was no feeling of the pressure. When she opened her eyes, she saw Embo just held there in place, his head still held down like an angry bull, only he was now struggling to break himself free from whatever was keeping him like this.
The Mandalorian's head turned and when she saw what was making him like this... she could not believe her eyes. Neither could anyone else in the entire market yard. Flurry Heart, the little baby, no taller than a womp rat, was holding her hands out like she was using the Force, and Embo was being held in place, not allowed to mow down the Mandalorian.
Lyra saw it too, and when she did, she could not help herself; she squeed like a little girl about to open a birthday present. And even more so when Embo was forced to spin around, no longer facing the Mandalorian. The baby let go, and Embo was let back on his feet to run and he slammed right into another market stand.
When the baby finally stopped, she plunked herself on her behind and suddenly everyone came to the same conclusion.
That's one powerful little baby.
Now that the baby was done, everyone just went straight back to fighting on their own, either the other shopkeepers, or the bounty hunters that originally came here.
"Hand over the asset or be terminated," IG-88 repeated yet again.
Lyra ran to try and save the baby, but Sugi stepped in, kicking her down, placing a foot on her head to try and pin her, ready to shoot her. Dengar saw this chance to try and grab the baby who did not look happy at the scary stranger coming close to her.
"We're just going on a little ride, little one. All the way to the Storm Empire..."
Lyra in a fit of rage, threw Sugi's foot off her and swung her foot around, smacking her in the face. "Get away from her you bounty-hunting scum!"
She used the Force, pushing Dengar away and slammed him against a wall, up in the air. She wanted to choke him and finish him, right here, right now. He was getting to her baby, and the thought of her baby being held hostage by these strangers both scared and angered her to the core.
Taking her chance, Sugi got back up and fired at Lyra who tried to duck her shots, but got hit the shoulder, making her cry out and drop Dengar. She held onto her shoulder, feeling the intense pain from the hot blast. Sugi's gun twirled as she clicked it, ready to finish the job. But a gloved hand punched Sugi in the back and hit her with a stun of her gun. The Mandalorian rushed back into the fight, shooting a stun attack on Dengar as well, rendering him unconscious.
Embo was ready to get back up and finish them again, but he was kept busy thanks to Hondo's men trying to shoot at him. Only one left; the IG unit. He held up his weapons, pointing them both at the Jedi and the baby. The Mandalorian wasn't about to let him be the cause of their deaths, and so clicking her gun back to kill, he fired multiple shots at the IG unit's head, shooting multiple times until he finally shut down and just collapsed on the ground, now smoldering from the attack.
The bounty hunter looked all around her; the Weequays were still infighting with each other, but thankfully their attention was not set on her or the Jedi. Sugi and Dengar were temporarily stunned, Embo was busy with some Weequays, and now IG-88 was destroyed. At least he would be until the others fixed him. But either way, she now had a chance to escape. She looked at Lyra, still struggling to get up, holding onto her shoulder.
Lyra looked at the Mandalorian extending a hand to help her up. Smiling, she took her hand, pushing herself to get right back up on her feet.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm hit, but I think I'll be alright," Lyra said, removing her hand from her would. The Mandalorian got a better look now; not only did part of her robe get ripped off, but there was some intense heat and some little bit of blood coming out.
"We'll get you patched up. But we better leave now before they come to," the Mandalorian advised.
"Right."
She leaned over to try and pick up the baby, hissing at every ounce of pain it took just moving her shoulder. It was a struggle, but she finally got the baby in her arms, safely cradled. The Jedi jumped at the feeling of another arm touching her, but quickly found that the Mandalorian had moved one under her, trying to help her stand up straight, at the very least, provide more strength to help make sure the baby didn't fall.
"Come on, let's go back to my ship. Hondo should have it refueled by now, and it'll be on our way to Naboo," the Mandalorian said. Unbeknownst to her, two figures poked out from behind some boxes, having listened in.
The Jedi sensed a disturbance within the Force, and her head whipped back. No one in sight, outside of the Weequays who were slowly getting back to normal, well, mostly. But none of them were focused on the two of them, thank goodness. Now it meant they could escape without being caught.
Recovering from the fight, Dengar and Sugi got back on their feet, brushing off the dust and sand they were flung into. Their sights focused on IG-88 who was laying destroyed on the ground, smoking in the central brain. And across the market they saw a freighter take off from the ground, escaping for the clouds. Now the Mandalorian had escaped.
Worse, Sugi was hearing a faint signal beep from her holo-device. She picked it from her side, turning it on.
"Why have I not heard from any of you? Do you have the asset or not?" Varan huffed, crossing his arms.
"We've had a little bump. We're after the asset, but that Mandalorian bounty hunter you hired is now helping the Jedi and the asset escape," Dengar said.
"Then bring the asset and that Mandalorian back! I don't care how many people you have to kill, JUST BRING THEM BACK ALIVE!"
And the transmission cut off before any of them could say another word.
"Really has a way with words, doesn't he?" Dengar snarked. "I don't see any way for us to find that bonuty hunter, she's probably long gone by now."
"Not for long," a feminine voice called.
The two looked to the call, watching as Cad Bane, Aurra Sing, and the newly-arrived Bossk walk towards them.
"We overheard their little conversation. The Mandalorian's dropping her off at Naboo. We just need to follow her and catch her when she arrives..." Cad Bane said, raising his head a little to let his red blood eyes be visible to the rest. "Since we're all against the Mandalorian, how about we all split the reward for taking in that traitor and the asset?"
The freighter known as the Sweetie Drop was back out in space, now back on course to Naboo. The ship's engines powered up, and soon they were flying right back into hyperspace again for a much quicker travel. And with the ship set on automatic pilot, this gave the Mandalorian some downtime to do other things; like help patch up her wounded Jedi.
She wrapped up some bandages around Lyra's wound, surprised to get her to hold still long enough to do so.
"You took some big hits, but I think you'll be alright," the Mandalorian said, this time more softly.
"Thanks," Lyra said, graciously.
The Mandalorian set the medical supplies down, and then looked over at the baby, who was just sitting on the floor, playing with a rubber ball. It rolled away a few times, but she learned how to use the Force to pull it back to her so she could get it again.
"When they hired me to capture that baby, I thought they were crazy. Now I understand why... and at the same time I don't," the Mandalorian said, sitting down on the step with Lyra.
"My assumption was that they want to turn the baby to the Dark Side, but that's just my hopeful wishing."
And poor Flurry whimpered as the ball rolled away again, except when she focused and pulled it back to her, she babbled and giggled in joy, grabbing it again.
"I have a feeling they would have killed her," the armored girl said, observing her. "Although there's one thing I don't understand; How did a Jedi like you end up being in charge of looking after this little powerhouse?"
Lyra hissed. "Oh... that. It's... not pretty. You sure you want to know?"
"It can't be that bad, can it?"
"It can, and it will," Lyra warned. "But okay. Where do I begin? Oh yes..."
"I was just doing business, discussing strategies in a war room like any other day. When suddenly we got a transmission, requesting for some help over on a small planet. It turns out that the princess along with the captain of the Royal Guard, her husband, had been dealing with a serious problem. A possibly changeling threat. You see, while Canterlot's a peaceful planet, it's unfortunately also home to another threat; Queen Chrysalis, and her Changeling army."
"I've heard about those bugs. Don't they take on the form of people you love and grow from the emotional energy you have for said people?"
"They do. And sadly, it had become a recent problem for the princess and her Crystal Empire. So she asked me to watch over the baby for a few days as a little nanny. Admittedly, I was surprised, but I honestly fell in love with the assignment. It was a nice change from battle. But over the course of time, it seemed the paranoia had gotten worse. And so one day..."
"Okay little one. You ready?"
Flurry nodded, and giggled in delight as Lyra lightly threw her up in the air and caught her gently, zipping around the baby's room with her like she was an airplane.
"Here comes the starfighter, nerrrroooooowwww, fire the ion cannons, bam bam!"
Flurry giggled in delight, especially after Lyra brought her back down to face her.
"You're such a sweetie, yes you are, yes you are," Lyra nuzzled her. "Is Flurry going to be a star pilot when she grows up? Huh? Are ya?"
Just then, Cadence and Shining Armor came in the room. "Hey, Lyra, can we talk to you?"
"Of course."
"Wait... how do know it's you?"
Lyra gulped. She knew this was gonna happen, again. A machine from the ceiling propped down, and started flashing a scanning ray up and down on her, checking her entire body.
"Okay, it's her," Shining said with relief.
"We wanted to discuss something with you, something important."
"Um, sure, yeah. What's that?" Lyra asked, sitting down in a chair.
"I'm afraid the search for the Changeling intruder has not stopped, and we aren't anywhere near close to stopping it or finding out if there is more coming," Shining Armor said with frustration, setting his helmet down on a table.
"Which is why we wanted to talk to you about this," Princess Cadence said, kindly.
"But wait, what about Twilight? She's her aunt, doesn't she deserve to know? If you're having problems here, I think she can dispatch some clones and come to help you--"
"She has enough responsibilities happening right now, and a war of her own going on. But we will let her know, I promise. But if something happens to us... and Twilight--
"Can we ask you to please take care of Flurry? You're the only one she seems to take a liking to."
Little Flurry playfully squirmed in her arms, blissfully unaware of what her mommy and daddy were talking about. Lyra looked down at Flurry, who was still desiring to play, and then back to Shining and Cadence. She couldn't say no to them, but she had responsibility to the Jedi Order. Well, either way, she wasn't about to break the promises of either or so she simply said--
"If it means that much to you two, I promise to look after Flurry should the day come. Which it won't."
The two sighed in relief.
"Thank you, Lyra."
"It really means a lot to us that someone will be protecting her. We just can't imagine what would happen if something bad happened to her," Cadence said.
Lyra looked down at Flurry, a little bit of worry in her voice said, "Yeah... me too."
"After our discussion, we all got on a shuttle, and they dropped me and Flurry off on Naboo... because I didn't think about bringing my own ship with me."
The two parents stood with Lyra, with some final minute discussion. Reminding Lyra of when would be appropriate times to set the baby to bed, her favorite foods, things to practice with her, and much, much more. The two parents really didn't want to leave, but they had no choice. They wanted their child safe, and they weren't about to keep her on a planet with the chance of her being kidnapped or killed by the Changelings.
"G-goodbye, Flurry..." Shining kissed the top of her head softly. "Daddy loves you, all right?"
Now Flurry could sense her daddy's sadness, making her frown and whimper.
"Just make sure she stays okay," Cadence requested, somberly.
"I promise. And don't worry, the Changeling debacle will end soon. You'll be able to get your daughter safely again," Lyra said with pride.
"I hope so. I don't want this search to take too long," Shining replied, worriedly.
The guard waited some more, and then stepped aside as Shining Armor and Cadence walked back onto the shuttle to depart. Lyra didn't move at all, holding little Flurry in her arms. She waited, and then watched as the shuttle took off, leaving them alone. She sighed momentarily, parking herself on the empty bench.
Lyra looked at baby Flurry in her arms, smiling softly. But seconds after, her heart crushed inside, thinking about the idea of Shining and Cadence being gone. Little Flurry could see her sadness, frowning a little. But she slowly pulled herself up to try and stand on her lap, and kissed her on the cheek. The Jedi felt a little warm inside as she looked back at Flurry, smiling some more and picked up the baby holding her in a warm hug, even feeling the baby's hands hugging her back.
"What do you say you and I go take a stop to Coruscant. I'll buy you some ice cream, I know Dexter's Diner has some of the best," Lyra asked little Flurry.
"... After that, I've been on the run, trying to keep the baby safe. Only a few Jedi know I'm trying to take care of their niece, but Master Sparkle doesn't. That's her aunt."
"Doesn't she deserve to know? She's her family," the Mandalorian said.
"She does, but... I don't know. I'm just scared it's only going to put more anxiety on her, and she has enough going on right now. But I'm hoping as soon as the Changeling scum has been found, I may return her back to her parents. Poor thing doesn't deserve being stuck out here in war," Lyra said, softly petting Flurry's hair, making her giggle.
The Mandalorian was quietly observing the baby, pondering Lyra's story. "I agree strongly. It's bad enough you all have brought this war stretched across the galaxy, but throwing children into this is just... I have no words. That's why I refuse to bring this 'asset' to the Storm Army. Kidnapping children has never been part of my code. Spice, money, jewels, whatever, I'll happily find those. But children? No. That's where I draw the line."
Lyra had to admit, she felt rather impressed. "I didn't think bounty hunters had any honor."
"Some do. Depends on the bounty hunter," the Mandalorian said. "So tell me. You're a Jedi, aren't you? Don't the Jedi have clone battalions to help? Why don't you have one helping you look after the baby?"
"Oh funny you mention that. Actually, I'll tell you why, just one second," Lyra picked up the baby, holding her safely and walked over to the crib, setting her down. "Lyra will be right back, Flurry. You're not ready to deal with my frustrations."
She closed the top, and then turned around with a face that screamed 'I am going to kill everyone on board this vessel'. "Why don't have I any clones? I'll tell you why; THEY'RE DEAD! I had a battalion! I had a captain, Captain Concord, I liked him, he was a good guy!"
The Mandalorian was not ready to deal with her anger either. "... And where is this, Captain Concord?"
"I don't know. Because he's FREAKING DEAD!"
The Mandalorian jumped.
"He, along with the rest of my battalion are all dead! They died, trying to help me protect Flurry! I watched those Storm Troopers mount Concord's head on a freaking stick!" She force-grabbed a staff from the side for emphasis. "A stick! Like a bunch of savages!"
And she tossed the stick to the side, back to the wall it was on.
"This is just like Kit Fisto's incident on Vassek with Nahdar and Commander Fil!"
"... I don't know who those two are," the Mandalorian blanked.
"Exactly!" Lyra ranted. "I just... agh! Varan won't stop until he has the baby, and I cannot imagine Flurry being held by that monster, or anyone of the Storm Empire."
Lyra took a moment to finally calm down, sighing to take a deep breath. Then she looked back at Mandalorian, with a bit of embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I forgot, Jedi aren't supposed to be this passionate or enraged, but honestly that rule doesn't... what?"
The Mandalorian's head was leaning over to look past her, not looking at Lyra directly.
"... Flurry got out of her crib, didn't she?"
Indeed she did. And when Lyra looked over, her anger washed away and she gushed with joy. Flurry was adorably hugging Cheep, who in turn was giving her some soft pats on the back with his little claws.
"Your baby really seems to like Cheep."
"Chorp chorp chorp chorp chorp," Cheep responded.
"I guess she thinks he's probably a plushie," Lyra thought.
And little Flurry then looked up at G-G, who just stood there idly, and watched as she started to slowly walk towards him. And very cutely, she hugged him as well, getting a soft pat from the astromech too.
"Aww," Lyra squeaked. "Your astromechs are really sweet."
"I think your baby is the sweet one here," the Mandalorian admitted. "I can't recall the last time I've been around someone so sweet and innocent."
The two of them sat for a moment or two, watching the baby just innocently sit and chill out. Eventually, the Mandalorian got back up on her feet. She walked over to a small workbench, looking at the parts laid about from K2-B4's body. She would reassemble them later, right now she wanted to do some reprogramming of her own so this tactical droid would obey her.
"Say, um, Mandalorian... do you have a name?"
The Mandalorian put the tactical droid's head down. "I'm sorry?"
"Do you have a name? Because I can't just keep calling you 'Mandalorian', it gets really repetitive after a while," Lyra blushed.
"... You can call me Mando," the bounty hunter said, a little coldly.
Lyra frowned. "Still don't want to share your real name?"
The Mandalorian was going to speak--
"If you don't want to, I understand. I should respect your rights to privacy, I shouldn't pry you on that," Lyra finished.
"I would be okay with you calling me Mando," the bounty hunter said, sincerely.
Lyra smiled a little. "Okay then, Mando."
Flurry's nose twitched and her eyes squinted a bit, feeling an urge to sneeze. Her voice started squeaking like she was about to as well. But when Lyra heard those noises--
"Oh crap, hit the deck, Mando, hit the floor!"
She grabbed the Mandalorian and slammed into the floor, covering her ears.
"Ah... ah..."
The Mandalorian didn't understand, but she stayed on the ground, mainly because she didn't know what this Jedi was gonna do if she tried to get back up.
"... What are we waiting for?"
"Ah... achoo," Flurry cutely sneezed.
Lyra lifted her head, looking back at the baby, sighing in relief. "Whew. Thank goodness."
"You were scared over a baby sneezing?"
"It's not the normal sneezes you should be worried about. The baby is Force-sensitive, but I found out the hard way that she has a little bit more power than she lets on..."
The Mandalorian pulled herself back on her feet, helping Lyra back up. "I'm almost afraid to ask."
The baby just innocently pulled herself up, patting her tummy as she heard her stomach growling.
"You hungry Flurry?"
The baby looked up and nodded with a big smile.
"How old even is that baby, I wouldn't think she could understand your words so easily," Mando asked. "Just bring her to the table, I'll see if I can make her something."
Mando walked over to her kitchen area, about to pull out some food to get working on. But she stopped partway in between. She tilted her head to look at Lyra out the corner of her eye, thinking a little bit. She set some food down on the counter, and spoke.
"Do you want something to eat, Lyra?"
Lyra heard her name. "I'm sorry?"
Mando paused for a second. "I said, do you want something to eat?"
"Oh! Um, sure, thanks! That would be appreciated," Lyra blushed. "W-Whatcha gonna make?"
"I did by some fresh Nuna legs," Mando asked.
"Then yes, I would love some," the Jedi smiled.
Mando got her answer, and her hands got started to cook dinner.
Now that dinner was cooked, the two young adults and little infant sat at the table and began eating. Very good food, surprisingly. Deep fried Nuna legs, some Thala-Siren milk, there was some good food here. And it only made the baby happier when she discovered she liked the Nuna legs.
Just hope she doesn't find out where they come from, or that'll ruin her innocence forever, Lyra thought. Her eyes looked back at Mando, somehow able to eat even though she kept that helmet on. She just watched her gloved hands slip the food under her mask to eat.
"How exactly can you eat with that helmet on?" Lyra asked, flipping her spoon at her.
"Very carefully. My code says no one is allowed to see my face. Therefore, I do not take off my helmet."
"Doesn't it get kinda sweaty under there?" Lyra asked.
"Sometimes," the Mandalorian shrugged.
"... You realize that I'm not going to judge you, right?"
"Why would you judge me?"
"Are you some alien species, is that why you're hiding under there? Or did your hair get badly screwed up by a barber, and you shot him, and he had a Mandalorian helmet so that's why you parade around in that? Or did someone toss you down a bottomless pit, trap you in carbonite, mutilate your limbs, let your body burn to a crisp by molten lava which is why you're hiding your face because it's nothing but melted skin?"
"..."
"..."
"... You. Are weird."
Lyra heard some condescension in that tone of voice, frankly feeling a little hurt by her words. "Do you hate me?"
Mando nearly coughed up her food, almost spitting into bottom of her mask. But turning around and wiping her mouth (making Lyra pout about not being able to see her face), she finally got herself stable. "I am sorry?"
"Do you hate me? Do you hate having to put up with me, are you annoyed--"
"No, I don't hate you, Jedi," Mando said. "But I'm not the biggest fan of your kind."
Lyra raised a brow. "My kind?"
"Just Jedi in general. They all speak about being keepers of the peace, and yet your war cannot bring any semblance of peace anywhere," Mando said with some snark. "And do not tell me or try and defend yourself. I've heard it all."
Lyra folded her arms, and the baby let out a small 'eh?' like sound, looking at Mando almost inquisitively.
"But that doesn't mean the Storm Army is safe either. I never liked them anyway, everywhere I go, I swear they're almost trying to build doomsday devices. I'll give your great Republic and Galactic Alliance this, at least you aren't trying to kill everyone you meet."
The dinner table suddenly got quietly awkward.
"Chirp, chup chup chup choop."
"Bwoop boop."
Mando groaned. "Yes, I probably should have said something else, and yes I just made the conversation incredibly awkward. You're not helping."
Cheep and G-G just let out soft curses at her and let their wheels take them away where they weren't going to be insulted.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get political with you," Mando apologized.
"No, don't be. You shouldn't be sorry for your opinion, it's all up to you, and if I can't change it, that's fine," Lyra acknowledged. "So... am I the first Jedi you've met?"
Mando took a second to finish chewing what she was eating. "I suppose you are."
"Annnnnddd?" Lyra said playfully, giving her sparkling innocent eyes. "I'm not that bad, am I?"
The Mandalorian was going to respond right away, but she got lost when Lyra gave her that face. Those sweet little eyes that looked into her soul that had nothing but kindness and innocence that she could get lost in. One of the few instances of pure innocence she had seen in such a long time. A surprise, but a welcoming surprise all the same.
"Mando?"
The bounty hunter finally snapped out of her thoughts. "No, um. No you're not bad. Not at all."
"See? We're not all bad," Lyra winked, playfully sticking her tongue out. The Mandalorian didn't laugh, but it certainly made the baby giggle a bit.
"I suppose so. Still prefer droids though," she said.
"Well, how come you favor the droids more than me? What's wrong with human contact?"
"... Droids can't easily betray you if they were programmed to do their job. And they give me more comfort than any human has offered," Mando sneered.
Lyra was confused. "I don't understand."
The Mandalorian sighed. "I suppose you should probably deserve to know. Have you heard of a terrorist organization called the Death Watch?"
"I believe so. I've heard of them existing for a long time, standing for the former warriors of the past that they used to be. Why?"
No longer hungry, the Mandalorian pushed her plate to the side so she could talk. "I was a little girl. Say around seven years old. My family and I were just out to have a picnic, when several bombings took place in the park. Death Watch attacked, and they killed dozens of the people there; my parents and I only barely escaped. We tried to make our case to the Duchess of Mandalore, but she didn't help. We weren't exactly happy with their stance on Mandalorian culture, but at the same time they refused to support Death Watch."
Lyra nodded, while the baby just sucked on her little plastic spoon, completely oblivious.
"We found little to no aid from the Duchess, especially when they came after us. The leader he... he killed my mom. So without much choice, my dad and I had to leave Mandalore and leave it behind. We took what we could, and settled to find a home on Tatooine. We eventually found a home and so we started to look for means of business. Outside of my father, the only people I cared for was some astromech droids that I helped maintain for a job. Repairing them, cleaning them, building them. There was a strange sense of comfort I got from working with droids."
"Okay. But wait, why do you even wear--"
Mando held up her hand, so she could continue speaking. "As time went on, my dad just couldn't keep up the workloads, even when he found a second job just so he could pay rent. It's hard living in a galaxy this big, and he eventually died heartbroken. I thought I was now done, my time was going to be over. But then I saw that he had made a will for me, and with it, a set of coordinates. I paid a taxi driver to take me to it and it led me to a massive storage unit. I looked inside, and I found he had saved up all of his money to make sure I had a means of going anywhere, and a place to live. Which is what you and I are sitting in, right now."
Lyra looked around her, not sure what she meant. The Jedi thought more and more, until she started to piece things together. "Wait, this--"
"Mmmhmm. This freighter that you're sitting in was the last gift my daddy made me. He also left behind some savings, some food, weapons to defend myself, instructions, and everything I could ever need. He also found this Mandalorian armor, which I painted myself. I didn't want any outsider to know who I once was, so I made a vow to never take this helmet off when I'm around people. And all of those boxes of droid parts, and the commando units that I have made out of junk?"
Lyra gave another nod, looking at the commando droids sitting on the little charging docks.
"When I fixed them, I gave them reprogramming so they could follow me; someone who wouldn't just forget them and fix them whenever they were banged up. And the same went for Cheep and G-G. After their ships were shot down, I brought them in and gave them a home. They're my family."
Cheep and G-G gave positive beeps, confirming her words.
"I never bring any company on board because I know how most people will act; they'll pick their noses into places they don't belong, or try to steal from me, or stab my back. I don't trust anybody. Droids can be trusted far more, and I can count on them more than human emotion." Her head turned away from Lyra for a few seconds ago, and then looked back at her. "You need to know who you can or cannot trust, Jedi. Me, I learned a long time ago you cannot rely on people for help. At least the programmable droids can help me when I need it," Mando said.
Lyra finished chewing on her piece of food, and then set down her fork. "Do you mind if I say something?"
Mando waited for a second. "Go ahead."
Lyra pushed her plate to the side, now finished with her dinner. "I'm sorry all of that happened to you. I really am. I can't say I've been through the same, but I've felt betrayed by some people sometimes as well. But you can't just close yourself off from them. If you can't trust anyone, then how are you getting around? And what about that Hondo guy, I saw you talking with him."
"He's more of a mutual business partner. He respects me, I respect him, simple as that," Mando replied. "I get his boys some spice, and in return, he and his boys have given me fuel and droid parts."
Lyra had a neutral expression on her face, unsure of what to say. All she really could say was, "I see."
But little Flurry raised her arms up, begging to be picked up so she could hug her quasi-mother. Lyra saw her, and her mind immediately melted when she saw the cuteness of little Flurry again. She picked up the baby, holding her in a hug, and she gushed hearing Flurry's adorable little happy sounds.
Some time later, Lyra and little Flurry had gone to bed hours ago, leaving Mando some time to try and focus on piloting and driving back. For a brief moment, she climbed down the ladder from the main pilot controls to go clean up the dinner table, having not taken care of it before. The first thing her eyes set upon was Lyra trying to sleep on the bed she folded out, visibly stirring a bit.
The Mandalorian thought about the conversation she had with Lyra during that dinner. She still held onto her beliefs about the war, but she did feel a bit guilty about how she acted to the Jedi. Sure, she was a Jedi, but she wasn't showing any signs of those behaviors she had believed or expected from the Jedi Order. This girl was sweet and kind, the complete opposite of how she imagined the Jedi to be, just from all the stories.
And on top of that, this Jedi's only main interest of focus was to protect the baby, something that she completely understood. Maybe she wasn't that bad a person at all...
Recognizing that she was shivering, she reached over into a compartment, pulling out a warm and fuzzy blanket. This was something that had been completely stitched together, something that her mother had made when she was a little girl. To this day, she still held onto it, never wanting to forget it. She hadn't used it in a while, but it was still clean, Maybe her guest could use it.
Slowly, she set the blanket down on the Jedi's body, making sure she was completely covered up and warm. And Lyra's quivering lips softly turned into a warm smile, no longer feeling the discomfort. And under that helmet; the Mandalorian couldn't fight her lips curling into a smile.
The very next day, the Sweetie Drop came out of hyperspace, now outside of a pale and sand green planet. Lyra, along with Mando sat in the main pilot seats of the ship as they started to make their approach.
"Here we are; Sorgan. We can pick up some fuel and supplies, there's a village we can stop at," Mando pointed, flipping the switches.
"Fine by me."
The ship flew through the atmosphere, punching through the clouds until they finally making it to the ground level. As far as the eye could see, the planet was another forest looking planet, like Endor, Ajan Kloss, Felucia, and many, many others. In a small clearing, they found a spot to land, and so the engines began to wind down as the landing gear unfolded. A soft landing had been made, and now they could get off the ship.
Mando climbed down the ladder from the cockpit down to the main open floor, ready to purchase some merchants. And luckily she still had some credits that did her good.
"I'm taking Flurry with me. Even if your droids are capable, it wouldn't be best to keep a Force-sensitive baby alone on your vessel," Lyra said, letting Flurry's little hovering crib come to her. The baby just sat inside it, enjoying the little ride.
"Good point."
"Thanks. I know she may not be just as safe outside here, but I think she'll be safer near me than by her own. Especially for someone just learning how to use the Force," Lyra pointed.
"Fair enough. G-G, activate one of the commandos. We're going to buy some things, might need some defense if someone gets hasty," the Mandalorian ordered.
"Bwoop boop."
G-G moved to a wall, accessing one of the panels. A commando that was set on a dock activated, and stomped from its stand, with the cables and cords pulling off from the back, no longer needing it. This unit had almost all of his limbs intact, except for one arm which was a piece from a common B1 battle droid unit, and a leg of a Geonosian B1 battle droid.
"Awaiting orders, commander," the commando droid said, standing straight.
"At ease soldier. We're just going out to do some shopping, no need to be locked and loaded. Just put the gun away, we want to show these people that we mean no harm," Mando advised.
"Roger roger."
The group walked down the hatch, finally reaching the actual land of Sorgan. Their feet stood on a patch of dirt, thankfully dry not wet. And right behind them was G-G and the single commando unit, ready to depart.
"Well alright, let's go."
The group left the ship and followed a direct path leading out of the woods, hoping to find more open areas.
--
Their walk was about fifteen minutes from where they parked the ship, and around the bend they could see some people nearby. People close to a hovering wagon with various goods and supplies. When they were further in view, they discovered a small cabin near them. And next to it was another small cabin. And reaching far beyond it and with several more log cabins and houses and shops. They had just found a small community, a village no less!
Hiking up their boots and metal feet, the group walked into the village, watching and looking around at the various people around them. Some various locals hanging around, chatting, talking to one another. Some children visibly walking around and laughing as they played, even getting Flurry's attention as she was now waddling with her, well, mommy. Once again she had climbed out of the crib, but Lyra didn't try and fight her to get her back in; Flurry was walking just fine for now it seemed.
Some of the more colorful looking locals glared at the group with unfriendly eyes. They didn't even do anything but just walk into town, what could they have done to make these few individuals so upset? Lyra could only imagine what these people were saying.
Yeah you see them, you see they keep walking, just freaking walking. I don't like them, they're terrorists! They wear their underwear backwards! They eat Gungan eyeballs!
At least that's what her slightly crude mind imagined them saying. She hadn't been exposed to many locals, and could only picture what they would say in her head. But even if this collective looked suspicious, they didn't say a word, or do anything to antagonize the group.
"Hello."
The group halted in their tracks, seeing two individuals standing before them. A girl with magenta hair and dark pink skin with freckles on her face, and a boy with light brown skin with wild green hair.
"Um, hi."
"My name's Gloriosa Daisy, and this is my brother, Timber Spruce."
"You can think of me as that fun guy who should always be invited to fun things," he said with a smirk, making Gloriosa roll her eyes.
"Welcome to Sorgan! What are your names?"
Lyra and Mando looked at each other, and back to the locals.
"My name's Lyra. This is Mando, G-G, and... um--"
"C1-327."
"... Right," Lyra said, unsure of how to reply.
"We came here to purchase some supplies. Is there any store that sells fuel of any kind?"
"There is. Just go down to the market stands over there, you should find plenty of things to purchase. And if not, there is a fuel and parts store on the left," Gloriosa asked.
"Thanks. Come on, Mando. Let's go see about finding us some fuel," Lyra said, casually with a smirk.
Sometime later, Lyra and Mando walked around with the crew, looking around the various stands. They had plenty of fuel to buy, which they picked up right away. But they still had time on their hands, and no signs of any bounty hunters in the vicinity, so they decided to go walk around and look at the stuff from the shops.
Thankfully the shop owners started to open up to the strangers and were less hostile than how they acted before, and so it gave them a chance to look for something just for fun. Little Flurry waddled on her own two feet, thankfully still able to catch up with the adults, what with G-G staying with her as they walked.
"Food stands, perfect. Hmm, maybe I can pick up a juice box for Flurry, she really likes those," Lyra thought.
Luckily she had found a stand, and paid a few credits to the owner, picking up a case of juice boxes for the little girl. And to make sure she didn't go thirsty, she pulled one out and squatted down to give it to Flurry, who happily accepted it and started sipping on the delicious taste of fruity liquid.
"Good thing you brought credits, I was starting to wonder if you had any," Mando said.
"I always have some," Lyra pouted.
"Republic credits don't work in the far reaches of the Outer Rim. You're lucky these people accept that currency," the Mandalorian said, paying an owner for some frozen Nuna legs. "Because out here, you need to pay smart. This isn't like some fun mall you can just pick up whatever you desire. Out here, you need to be the smartest you can, and that means paying smart, paying only what you need to survive."
“And just how do you even survive just living on a freighter and just buying from merchants?” Lyra asked, raising a brow. "Yes, I understand playing smart, but specifically, what do you mean?"
“You follow these simple rules, Jedi. Don’t play a hero, shoot anything that can’t shoot back; like Porgs, circus people, peasants, tourists, dust, Banthas, and Womp rats.”
The Jedi gave her a disturbed look. “Uhhh…”
Lyra wasn’t sure if she should have been confused, or to be disgusted. She was however surprised to hear the Mandalorian actually start snickering and laughing at how she expressed her shock. “I’m kidding, Jedi. Look, it’s a tough universe out here, but the way I see things; you stick to your guns, do not trust anyone, only accept small jobs, and fry any sleemo that tries to pull any micro-transactions on whatever he tries sells you without giving you the full deal. I hate people who basically con you into buying things that you never really own.”
Lyra still wasn’t sure what to say. “I am trying really hard to understand that last sentence… but I really can’t.”
“You’ll learn eventually,” the Mandalorian shrugged off. “Come on, we better get back to the ship.”
Their plan for turning around was interrupted when they saw a man get tossed across the ground in front of him, feet away from the little shop that he had came from. And an unfriendly sight in the form of a bandit with a loaded gun came whipping around from the store, with a bag of presumed stolen goods in his possession. Lyra wanted to march forward but Mando stopped her, shaking her head.
"But I--"
"--That's not our business."
"A man was tossed out of that shop, we have to help him," Lyra insisted, putting her hand down. "My job is to protect the peace, and he just got thrown in an unpeaceful way. So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to help him," Lyra set her foot down, walking over to the man who had just been mugged. "Sir, are you okay?"
"No, I'm not okay!" The man shouted. But he realized how he was sounding to the stranger who just asked him a simple question. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you. I've been on edge lately, along with everyone else around here."
"That explains all the nasty looks we got since we got here," Mando said, looking at some more of the villagers. "What's wrong?"
"Bandits. Highly armed bandits who attack our village, steal from our families, our businesses," the man said, crossing his arms with an angry face. "We like our village. But we do not like those who steal from us. Especially from people who come here with weapons and war machines."
Mando looked at her pistols, and over to her commando droid who just stood there, keeping his gun by his side and not in his arms.
"Sir, we didn't come here to attack or steal, we only come here as customers, to buy," she said.
"And I sincerely appreciate that. But we do not want any trouble brought here, we're in enough as it is," the man said.
"What's your name, sir?" Lyra asked.
"Wix," he said.
"Okay, Wix. I have another question, do you have any warriors or security teams of any kind?"
"You think we'd hire bounty hunters to protect us? That would cost us more money," Wix said.
Lyra scratched her chin. She then looked at her Mandalorian friend, and the two of them exchanged a small nod.
"By any chance, do you have a place where we could gather all the villagers for a town meeting?" Lyra asked.
"We do... why?"
"I think I have an idea," Lyra grinned. "And if it works, you won't have to worry about any bandits ever--where's the baby!?"
"Whoa, Lyra, calm down," Mando said, gripping her shoulders. "G-G's watching the baby, and Flurry is just over there," she pointed.
Lyra looked to where she pointed and she felt a sliver of relief. Flurry was safe, thank goodness. And G-G was watching her as Mando said, and she was trying to chase after some fluffy creatures who were prancing near some playing children. She couldn't help but smile as the little girl tried to run after them, so cute. But Lyra's defensive instincts kicked in when she saw an older little girl approach her, looking around 7 or 8 years old.
"Hi there," a little girl said.
Flurry looked up, curiously smiling. She waddled towards her, and she squatted down to get up a little closer to greet her. Lyra was about to move up in defense, until the Mandalorian stopped her.
"Relax. It's just a little girl, she's okay," the bounty hunter reassured.
"Sorry. I've seen all the little ones, they can be savages," Lyra sneered, defensively.
The Mandalorian looked at her, admittedly disturbed under the helmet. "I think you've spent too much time in the battlefield. You're really on edge."
Lyra sighed. "Sorry. I don't want anything bad to happen to her."
"I understand," Mando said, lightly patting her shoulder, but then quickly withdrawing her arm.
But as she looked at Flurry, her mind then wandered back to the man who had been robbed. Her hand rubbed her chin, thinking hard. What could they do to help these poor people? There had to have been something they could do, something they could do that would be of help. And yeah, she had an assignment to protect the baby, but this wasn't a problem that she could ignore.
Her eyes locked onto the commando droid who was awaiting orders, and then back at Mando.
"Mando, out of curiousity, how accurate is your commando droid's aim?"
"Better than the B1's, I can tell you that," Mando replied. "Why?"
Lyra had a small grin. "I think I have an idea. But I am going to need your help as well."
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.
The engines roared with power as the Sweetie Drop traveled through hyperspace. The inside of the ship was now quiet again, with only the Mandalorian making some noise as she climbed down a ladder to check up on her guests. Looking over, she saw Lyra was sleeping peacefully on her cot, warm under the fluffy blanket that Mando had given her.
Her head looked over on the table, eyeing the IG unit that was near completion for assembly. So far, it was honestly in really good shape, aside from being in pieces and just needing to be put back together. Only major things she had to do now was to get some good programming information so he would obey her, and not be incredibly hostile. But that was something she would have to do for after the trip was over. But yet, she still was considering finishing it now, even as she looked at a micro-chip containing more medical related emergencies.
Her attention wandered until she heard the soft but adorable babble coming from the baby's hovering crib. Mando glanced back over to the baby, hearing her whimper when she found herself caught, and hid back under her blanket. Checking again, she saw Lyra had fallen asleep, but she wasn’t going to wake her. Maybe she could try and approach this little baby without scaring her this time? Maybe?
She lowered herself on her knees so she could be face to face with the baby while she was in the crib.
“Flurry. So, you saved my life when we took that stop on Florrum. I gotta hand it to you kid, I didn’t know you could do… that.”
The baby listened, but still held the covers in her little hands, trying to hide from her.
“Hey, hey, listen. Look, I didn’t know you were what the Storm Empire was after. I know you can’t understand me, but I’m not here to hurt you. I promise.”
But the baby still didn’t react kindly to her. How was she going to get this kid to open up? There had to be something to get this baby to like her. Maybe she could tried what Lyra did; maybe extending a finger to give her little tickles could work? Or if that doesn’t work, maybe she could just try and get the baby to simply shake her hand?
Slowly, she extended a finger and moved her hand into the baby’s crib, moving it within distance of the child. The baby’s whimpering slowly died down, and she pulled her blanket down without fear. And in the baby's mind, she thought over everything over of her experiences with this masked vigilante. She didn't mean no harm, she kept her safe. This masked woman wasn’t going to hurt her after all…
Smiling, she put a hand on the Mandalorian’s finger, patting her. It wasn’t visible, but the Mandalorian was smiling happily underneath the helmet. This little powerhouse was opening up to her and without fear! Still trying to be cautious, she slowly moved her hands in the crib and picked up the baby, moving her carefully to hold her in her arms. The baby just giggled, showing the most happy faces that the Mandalorian had ever seen.
“I think I understand why Lyra likes you.”
She patted the baby’s head, making her giggle. And the baby slowly moved her hands to the Mandalorian’s helmet, trying to grab it. “No, no,” she said, softly but sternly. “No one is allowed to lift my helmet. My helmet stays on my head, kid. No one is allowed to see my face.”
The baby pouted. She just wanted to see her real face. But she got an idea. Thinking and calming down, she slowly moved her hands out, aimed at the Mandalorian’s helmet.
“… You better not.”
The baby did not resist her words.
“You better not be using your fancy magic to raise my helmet. Do you know what happens to those who—”
For a moment the helmet was lifted up, until Flurry’s shock made her let go and it plunked back on her head. She didn’t see much, but it did surprise her. Not enough to make her cry, thank goodness.
“That’s a huge risk you just took.” The Mandalorian spoke. “If you were an adult, I would have quaking in fear. But I can’t make you do that, now can you?”
Flurry tilted her head, not processing much of her words.
“Do you want to sit up with me in the cockpit, look at some stars?”
Now that, Flurry understood as she nodded ecstatically.
“Okay. I’ll take you up with me,” she agreed, keeping one hand on the baby while the other hand she used to try to pull herself up, luckily she had some wall behind her to use as an extra force to pull herself up. And luckily she had the little crib hovering right behind her which she got to follow her up the ladder and into the cockpit.
Once she was up, she sat back down in the pilot chair and let Flurry sit on an open space next to her. And right now, the baby was in touch heaven. So many shiny buttons that were in the cockpit around her, there were so many for her to play with! Her head looked to her right, and Flurry's little hand flipped a switch, setting it to green.
"No. No no," Mando said, calmly but firmly, reversing the switch order.
And yet Flurry ignored her and flipped it yet again.
“How about we stop playing with button?”
And still, Flurry did it again!
“Hmm, no huh?” the Mandalorian said. “I think someone’s getting a little cranky.”
Once again, defying her word.
“If you touch that button one more time, this ship is going to self-destruct," Mando threatened, starting to lose some patience. And Flurry still flipped the button that she was told not to, and to the baby's surprise, nothing blew up. “Huh. You didn’t even hesitate. That’s a huge gamble you just took.”
The baby had zero clues what she was talking about and just sat there innocently, wanting to press that button again.
"Tell you what. I'll let you play with the button for a few more minutes, and it's time for bed. I'm no parent, but I'm pretty sure it's past your bedtime," Mando compromised. "But don't press the blue button. I don't need you waking up your mom." Flurry instantly got an idea. Press the button? She leaned slightly over to hit the switch, and Mando watched her with an eye of a hawk. "Don't... you better not." And Flurry hit the switch. Dramatic music started blaring inside the cockpit, with dramatic drums and a chorus singing like performers at an opera on Coruscant.
Empire on Ice! Empire on Ice! Here we are the Empire on Ice! All those Jedi will pay a big price! Tempest's not nice and the Storm King will dice and the Wookiees have lice The Empire on Ice!
Mando immediately pressed the switch, deactivating the music. "If Lyra heard all of that, she would kill me." She looked at the baby who continued to sit innocently. "What? So I like listening to songs mocking the Storm Empire and the Republic Senate, so what?"
"Thank goodness you're too young to understand," Mando sighed, shaking her head.
And it didn't take long for Flurry to start playing with the button again. This went on for a few more minutes, until Mando turned around and picked up the baby, setting her back down in the crib.
"Okay, playtime is over. Time to go to bed, Flurry."
Mando turned her chair around, putting her attention back onto space, continuing to just sit and keep things under control while her home went through hyperspace. Her attention nearly wandered until she heard the little cooing from the crib.
“What am I hearing right now? You better not be fiddling with that compartment switch. If I find out you’re not back in your crib you are in big, big, big trouble. I’m one of the most feared women in the galaxy. Do you know what I’m capable of? I have eyes in the back of my head. No one gets the drop on me.”
“…”
“… You’re standing right behind me, aren’t you?”
Mando turned her head, and instead found Flurry sitting on the same spot she was before, next to the buttons she was playing with from before. As Flurry sat on the little compartment piece, her eyes were drawn to the shiny ball that was on top of one of the levers. She reached for it, pulling it off, thinking it was candy. And when she tried to suck on it like a pacifier, the Mandalorian plucked it away before she could do any damage.
“No, don’t eat that,” she said, taking the metal piece away from her hands and away from her mouth. And yet Flurry reached for it again. “Stop. Don’t tell me you’re hungry. We already had dinner, I saw you eat! How are you still hungry?”
Flurry looked at her with a frown, patting her arm.
“Do you want a snack? If I get a snack, do you promise you’ll go to sleep?” Mando said, sternly.
Somehow the baby understood and gave her a little nod.
“Alright. Give me a second,” The Mandalorian said, getting up from her chair. But before she turned, she looked back at the baby who sat there innocently. "Don't touch anything, understand?"
Mando set the ship into auto-pilot mode, and walked away from the cockpit, climbing down the ladder to go to the kitchen. And little Flurry just sat there, looking around and at all of the controls in awe. So many shiny buttons to play with, so many possibilities. What did they all do? But then she saw one of the joystick controls in the middle. Waddling over, she kept a firm stance on one of the arms of the arm chair, and gripped the joystick, wiggling it side to side.
That however proved to be a very risky act, as within seconds, the entire ship started shaking and rumbling, and it began spinning around, dangerously. The Mandalorian was heard screaming from down below, especially when she was heard slamming and banging against everything. Luckily Mando finally got control to climb back up into the cockpit to stop the little powerhouse from causing any further destruction.
"AH!"
Mando fell backwards in the cockpit, and thanks to Flurry still playing with the joystick like a toy, Mando's face slammed against the consoles and against other parts of the cockpit. "I should have left you in the crib!"
Thankfully the ship spun itself back around, and Mando was able to get a grip on the controls and stop the baby from causing any more damage. She picked up the baby, and set her back in the crib, getting some little whines back. Thankfully they went away when she saw the snack that Mando was offering, a small little fruity popsicle, and immediately started sucking on the snack.
Mando sighed, getting the ship back in control. "Do not touch things, understand?"
Flurry slowly sunk where she was sitting, with a guilty face, as if to say 'I'm sorry, I won't do it again'. But she smiled as she kept sucking down on the snack, keeping her hunger at bay. For a few more minutes, Flurry just ate her snack, finishing it with a cute little burp. And once she made it clear she was done, Mando carefully lifted Flurry and set her down in her crib.
"Okay, good night little one. Sleep tight."
Mando turned around back to the controls, keeping the ship going once again. But she still felt something was off. Her head moved and out the corner of her eye, she saw the baby was still awake.
"What?"
The baby looked at her innocently with pleading little eyes.
"I know what that look means. You want me to sing you a song, don't you?"
Flurry shook her head.
"No? Then what do you want?"
Flurry's little hands reached down in her crib, and pulled out a small little physical book, shown with colorful pictures and cute animals. Mando picked up the book, looking at it for a brief second, then back to the baby.
"You want me to read you a story? If I read you this story, do you promise to go to sleep?"
"Yis," Flurry cooed softly.
Mando sighed. "Oh boy... I can't say no to you little cutie, now can I?" Her head jolted to the side from shock. Where the hell did that come from? Regardless, Mando diverted her attention back to the baby. "Alright. You get one story, and then it's time for bed. No negotiations."
She picked up the book, thankfully a skinny book at that. Cute cartoon pictures of little animals, all different species from across the galaxy. Admittedly, they reminded her of some books that her mother used to read as a little girl... and now here she was, about to read to a baby of a similar kind.
"Alright," The Mandalorian said, clearing her throat. "The loth-cats are cuddling in their homes, with no emotions to make them weep. And so I am telling you little one... to please go to sleep."
The next few minutes went by, and so Mando kept reading, making sure it had an effect on the baby. And as the story progressed, it seemed to be doing it's job. The baby was enjoying the story, and her little eyes were slowly starting to close as she got a little more sleepy, listening to the story.
Although, Mando did change the last verse for something a bit more fitting for her.
"And so now, I will fly the ship back to Naboo, with my droids, G-G and Cheep. And now I see, you little Flurry... you have finally gone to sleep."
After all of that reading, Flurry had finally gone asleep.
"Look at that. Finally, some peace and quiet for a bit." The Mandalorian sighed in relief, finally this baby was going to be peaceful for a while now. Yet, when she looked at her, finally sleeping in that little crib... she couldn't figure out why she was smiling. This small little thing was causing so much trouble in the past few days, yet she didn't know why she didn't want to look away. Her soft little hair, that cute little face, and the adorable noises she made when she tried to talk. She swore she almost gushed a little when she heard those.
The baby stayed sound asleep, thank goodness. And it never saw as Mando took off a glove, and softly patted her head and adjust her blanket to make sure she stayed safe and warm in her crib. But right now, she couldn't think about it. She had much more pressing matters to deal with; one of which was to get to Naboo in one piece...
The Sweetie Drop jumped out of hyperspace, finally arriving at Naboo. No Storm Army blockades, no warring factions, nothing. The atmosphere was clear for them to come down and land, thank goodness. But instead of landing in a landing zone in the city, Mando instead chose to land in the grasslands, roughly two miles from the city.
The ramp opened up, and Lyra walked out, the crib floating right behind her, and Mando being the last of the bunch to leave. The hatch closed behind, and so the group started walking towards the city.
It wasn't a long walk, thankfully. But it did take some time to get there, until the group was finally standing at the city gates.
"Alright, here we are. This is as far as I go."
"Hang on, why here? There's a docking bay in the hangar you can use, I'm sure if you just let me--"
"After everything I said about your Jedi Order, your war, your rules, and the people you're fighting against... I don't think they would want to see me. Let's not forget, I'm a bounty hunter. I'm not worth the time of day to deal with the likes of me, and I know I have some crimes under my belt that they would want to press charges for."
"But Mando--"
A gloved hand went over her lips, and she stopped talking. Lyra didn't understand what the Mando was doing, and she was very stiff when she saw her hand softly hold her shoulders.
"Stay safe. I've done all I can to keep you and Flurry safe. I think my career as a member of the Bounty Hunter's Guild is now over, and there is a 100% chance that Bane and the others will come after me," Mando said. Lyra felt a little worried, she could just feel the shakiness in her voice.
"Mando, you don't have to run. Why don't you get your ship, park it in the hangar bay, and maybe we can talk to the Republic about putting you into some kind of protection? If they're coming after you for saving me, then they have to--"
"--I've said enough, Lyra. And after everything I've said to you, and everything I've spoke about your allies... I don't think you would want someone with that much snark around," Mando said, turning her head away to look back out into the fields, seeing her ship still parked on the hillside. "I have to leave."
"But..."
Lyra couldn't get any more words out of her mouth. Mando didn't say another word either, and she started to walk away. Lyra wanted to use the Force to yank her back, or do something to try and get her to come back, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. She didn't want to drive her further away, and so she just stood there... and watched as Mando walked back to her ship.
The baby watched as Mando left, and whimpered a little. Her little hands reached out, begging for her to come back, but with no result. Flurry whimpered some more, until Lyra picked her up, holding her in her arms.
“Oh, Flurry…” Lyra cooed, hugging the baby. “Shhh… it’s okay. It’s okay sweetie. I know... I know...”
Flurry still whimpered, but Lyra still kept her close and continued to walk further into the city. The city was peaceful, thankfully. And everyone seemed to be minding their own business, no one was in any imminent danger, no problem whatsoever. But she had to find someone, anyone of a high position or security so she could call for help.
Thankfully someone answered her prayer, in the form of a voice that she heard carried in multiple familiar bodies. Over near one of the bigger buildings was a clone trooper in light blue armor. Actually, multiple troopers, huddled together, calling for the Jedi's attention. Lyra immediately knew who they were; they were a part of Derpy Hooves' clone division. They waved to her, gesturing her to come over to them. That was enough to finally get her to break out of her frown.
“Baker's Batch, so good to see you all. Mix, Patch, Stinger, Ace, Bolt, good to see you all again.”
"Good to see you're safe and alive, General," Bolt stated. "There have been multiple Jedi stretched across the galaxy trying to find you. Should we radio all the search parties to tell them you're still alive?"
"Yes, yes we should," Lyra agreed. "Tell them I'm okay, and I have the baby."
Flurry tilted her head, and clapped her hands with joy when she saw those same familiar white-armored guys who kept her and 'mommy' safe during the last few runs.
"Aww. Glad to see the baby's safe," Mix smiled under the helmet. He couldn't help himself and wave a finger in front of the baby, getting Flurry to try and hug it, playfully.
"Where's Derpy? Is she around?"
"Actually, she's inside the hangar. We're just about to go in to meet her actually," Ace replied.
"Great! I'll come with!" Lyra smiled, following the group of clones.
Lyra followed the clone troopers, passing by some citizens and a few more clones who were just standing by with some of the Naboo Royal Guard. They just simply gave her some friendly waves, letting them continue to walk on by. And even though it wasn't important, Lyra did smile a little, hearing some of the conversations between some of the clones who were around. All of them had the same blue armor as the Baker's Batch.
"I heard we might be getting modified Phase II armor next week," said the trooper on her left.
"Finally. I've been waiting to get some upgrades," replied another trooper.
Chuckling softly, she continued to follow the clones through the city, and were granted access to walk inside a hangar area. Inside, there were a few more clone troopers hanging out, chatting, taking a break, whatever. And standing with an eye-catching trooper in bright blue armor, was Derpy Hooves.
"Derpy!"
The Jedi heard her name, and immediately turned with a hopeful smile, knowing who that voice belonged to. "Lyra, it's so good to see you," Derpy smiled, pulling her into a hug. And her walleyes met the eyes of the baby in her arms. "Aww, I'm so happy you're okay. How have you been sweetie?"
The baby raised her arms up, insisting on being picked up. Lyra, with a smile, carefully passed the baby to Derpy's arms to let her hold her. "You're getting so big," Derpy gushed. And carefully, she moved the baby around so she could keep her cradled safely and in the most comfortable way. "How did the trip go, did you make it back safely?"
Lyra shrugged a little, although her face seemed unsure. "It was... fine. Kind of got sidetracked a little. But I met a lady who was kind enough to help me get here safe and sound."
"Who was she?"
Lyra frowned. "Well... she's a Mandalorian. And I don't think I'll see her again."
Now Derpy frowned. "Oh, sweetie, I'm sure she'll turn up again."
The Jedi turned her head to the open hangar, gazing at the beautiful day that was just outside. Her hands moved behind her back as she looked outside, saddened that she wasn't going to see her again for some time. "I hope so Derpy. I hope so..."
When Lyra found her way back to the city, the Mandalorian stood outside her ship, taking in the fresh air of Naboo around her. It felt rather nice, and it was a gorgeous day today. Sadly, she couldn't stay. She had to leave, and knowing the bounty hunters, they were most likely going to be on her tail with every passing second. So she walked inside her ship, climbed up to the cockpit and sat back down in the pilot chair. Mando flipped some controls, about to take off when her hand reached for a lever. She saw the top of it was gone, thanks to the baby pulling it off and trying to suck on it like candy. Her hand slowly retreated back, her mind a bit heavy in thought. The engines were still prepping idly, ready to take off, and she had that instinct to try and leave. But some part of her couldn't just get herself to get going, she couldn't bring herself to leave.
Any other people she picked up along the way or paying passengers she just dropped off without a second thought, but she didn't want to go. Just when she was about to force herself to finally get off the ground, she pulled a switch and listened as the engines slowly powered down. She let her head bang against the headrest of the seat, sighing.
What is wrong with you? You're done! They're safe, just go and move on with your life! Its not like these people are going to be important to you anyway. Not like that baby with dangerous magic would be good to have around a rust bucket... especially one so downright cute and sweet and kind to my bots.
Her head slammed against the steering wheel.
No, no, no! Mando, you are not going to go back and try and find them, you can't! Lyra is a Jedi, she has rules she has to abide by, you can't get her to break them. Especially not someone so... cute.
"Agh! What is wrong with me!?" The Mando yelled, slamming her fists against the controls. "No, I can't leave. I gotta go after her."
She spun around in her chair, and slid down the ladder like a fireman pole. Once she hit the ground, she charged out into the open and her skin was cold. She had a visitor, an unfriendly one at that. Scary blood red eyes and cold dark blue skin staring straight at her with pistols in his gloved hands.
"Hold it right there."
Mando turned around and saw IG-88 step in the way, blocking the ship entrance. And on her left and right were the others; Bane, Sugi, Embo, Dengar, Bossk, and Aurra.
"Where is the asset?"
"She's dead," Mando said with a straight face. "Couldn't stand the thing."
"Liar," Bossk hissed. "I can hear it in your voiccceee. I can smell your fear. And it smellsssss... delicioussss."
"You Trandoshuns have weird eating habits, I swear," Mando shrugged off.
"You're wasting our time. Where is the asset?"
Mando looked at her surroundings, snarling softly under her helmet. "Even if she was here, I still wouldn't say a thing."
"If you don't tell us where she is, we'll just have to rip your ship apart until we find it," Bane warned, clicking his gun.
Mando looked down at her wrists, silently flipped a switch without them noticing. She stretched her head, moving it all directions and cracked her knuckles. "You can try... but you won't find anything valuable."
Her fists went up and spinning around in circles, she shot out giant bursts of flame that made everyone duck and jump out of the way. Mando may not have wanted to kill them, but at the very least, getting them all to back away would have been helpful.
"Get her!"
Aurra fired the first shot, which the Mandalorian ducked. Thinking on her heels, she swung a foot around and kicked the blasters out of Aurra's hands. Aurra however fought back, striking her in the gut with her knee. Thinking quickly, she grabbed Aurra's arms and threw her hard enough to slam her against the side of her ship.
Dengar went to grab her by the neck, and Mando instinctively went for the stomach, punching and then throwing an extra kick to push him away. Embo got a move on her, feeling a powerful slam against her back thanks to his hat shield disk. Mando wanted to fight back, but someone else soon caught her attention. She tried to press her wrist gauntlet to activate her droids, but there were too many targets and there was only so much she could do to occupy her attention.
Sugi jumped at her, trying to tackle her and pin her to the ground to keep her from activating her droids. In a fit of luck, Mando threw Sugi off her, and ducked as IG-88 fired multiple shots came flying at her, avoiding being blasted in the head. Unfortunately she did not anticipate several agonizing shocks coming from the electro-staff that Embo was twirling around, stolen from some Magna Guard droid long ago. He hit her in the back, sending a large amount of paralysis to her body, striking her every time she tried to get back up to fight.
One more shock did the trick and she finally dropped, overwhelmed by everyone around her. Now that she was down, Embo and Sugi swooped in to grab her, picking her back up and held her in place, locking her arms behind her back.
"What do we do with her now?" Dengar asked, pointing his gun towards her head.
"Hold on. This Mandalorian has battle droids. We better check and make sure they stay deactivated, just for good measure," Aurra grinned, raising her pistol.
"Agreed," Bossk nodded.
Bossk and Dengar walked inside the ship, looking for droids. A few were visibly seen sitting on their little docking platforms, and instinctively, the bounty hunters opened fire on all of them, frying them instantly. And their sights set on K2-B4, and they also immediately set their guns to fire on him, smashing him into nothing but spare parts.
The two looked around some more, pushing more junk and debris out of the way. And Bossk even slapped the almost finished IG unit onto the ground, left to just lay there like a sack of potatoes. Couldn't get up without a brain, so no worries there. But then Bossk tapped a button that opened up a small compartment door, revealing Cheep and G-G sitting inside, turned off in fact.
"Wait, hang on. They're astromechs, they're nothing more than pets. They can't do anything, let's just leave them here. Besides, how are they going to activate?" Dengar snickered.
"Finneeee..." Bossk whined.
The two sweeped the ship some more, but eventually found nothing. With nothing else to do, they walked out of the ship, leaving it a complete mess. And unbeknownst to them, the astromechs started to activate on their own...
"Where is the asset?" IG-88 asked, raising a gun.
Mando lifted her head weakly, growling at them. "I am not saying anything, you malfunctioning scrap pile."
"I will initiate the weapon to kill."
"Wait. The Storm Army will pay big money if we bring back the one who kept them from getting the asset back," Aurra suggested. "Don't kill her, we need her alive."
IG-88 stopped in place, looking back at Aurra quizzically. "This is true."
"Come on everyone, back to the ship. We're taking this traitor in alive," Bane ordered, leading them back over to the ship.
Mando moaned as she tried to move, but couldn't. Everyone had their arms on her, and they wouldn't let her escape. Mando could barely lift her head up to see their sinister glares as they dragged her limp body to their craft. And when they got closer, all she saw was darkness as she slowly blacked out.
What they didn't realize was that there was still some droids left on her ship still online. Two astromech units slowly moved down the ramp to look, and they whimpered and shuddered as they watched their captain get hauled away by the bounty hunters.
"Chirp, chup chup choop, chup chup chup."
"Bort weeeirp," G-G whimpered.
"Chup chup chup choop," Cheep agreed.
The two astromechs rolled back up the ramp and back inside the ship to stay out of sight, waiting patiently. Using a small elevation control, the droids got up to the cockpit controls to see if they could get a better look. They couldn't see much until they saw a gunship start to take off into the air with a custom paint job and markings vanish into the skies. Once the bounty hunter crew got high enough, the hyperdrive activated and they escaped Naboo with a single jump into hyperspace to meet their 'esteemed' client...
The bounty hunters took a quick trip through hyperspace, arriving outside the planet of Sullust. A barren obsidian world filled with lava streams. Thrusting through the clouds, they found a space to land on a landing pad, slowly descending down and letting the landing gear unfold and touch the ground.
First to walk out was Cad Bane and Aurra Sing, and right behind them was Sugi and Embo holding a beaten-up Mandalorian in their arms. IG-88, Bossk, and Dengar soon walked out as well, joining the group. The Storm Guards at the entrance let them inside, and just gave little grunts as they walked on by.
And right before them was Commander Varan who was awaiting them, hands behind his back.
"Let's make this fast, tight pants. We want our payment and we want it now," Dengar insisted, cocking a gun at him.
"Relax, my comrade. Just go into the meeting room where we all met before, I have some business to attend to first."
Two commando droids moved in to take the Mandalorian off the bounty hunters hands, and the seven of them hesitantly walked further down the hall to go back to the meeting room where they had all met. Varan just growled, keeping a neutral face as adjusted his suit. "At least Zuckess and 4-LOM were easy to negotiate with," Varan grumbled, walking past them.
Ignoring the bounty hunters, Varan followed his two commando units underground to the prison chambers. Once the door was open, the Mandalorian was tossed into a containment field, and magnetic cuffs held her arms and legs up, hoisting her up in the air in a restrained position. She lifted her head to gaze at the commando droids that were clearly not on her side, glaring at them intensely. If only these droids were on her side, they wouldn't have been slaves to this vicious army...
The well dressed commander marched inside, demeanor as cold as the Storm Army's attacks. He looked at the Mandalorian held captive, not changing his facial expression in the slightest.
"So you're the one who got the child away from me. Sad. You would have been given an extraordinary payment beyond your wildest dreams," Varan glared.
"You were going to do horrible things to that baby. It doesn't take a scientist to understand why you wanted it."
"Who said I wanted to do bad things to it?" Varan snared. "I won't beat around the bush. I don't want to harm that baby. I wanted it so she could be raised. Nurtured. Learn to live among our kind, and to grow with the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the Storm Army... and many others dedicated to our cause."
"Just to turn into another killing machine to wipe out those who don't agree to your views," Mando spat, trying to yank her wrists from her bonds.
"You're siding with the Republic now?"
"No. I'm just stating the painfully obvious, you greased weasel," the woman growled, mocking Varan's accent.
Varan wasn't really emotionally affected. He just smirked as he got uncomfortably close to her body. "Now I'm curious. What are you hiding underneath that helmet?"
Varan moved his hands up, gripping the sides of her helmet. Mando wanted to fight back, but she couldn't. Her hands couldn't grab or move at all, and it was too late. Her helmet came off, and the commander just let it slam onto the ground.
Varan guffawed. "Wow. You know, for someone who hides behind a mask, that is not a face I certainly expected. I honestly thought you would be much uglier."
Her teeth, now visible, were grit and snarling. But this didn't phase the Mandalorian.
"So tell me, lady Mandalorian. You spent the past few days running and hiding to protect the child and the Jedi from us, and the other bounty hunters... yet you choose to work alone."
Mando spat, "I work alone with droids."
"Oh, oh, I'm sorry, with droids. I forgot, you view them as people, unlike us flesh and blood," Varan scoffed, folding his arms with a smug expression. "Funny thing though. You see these metallic beings as living things... yet they are nothing more than buckets of bolts programmed to do what we tell them to."
"Droids are reflections of those who program them. Just like my crew," Mando argued.
Varan then reached his hand to her face, grabbing her by the jaw and yanking her a little close so he could be even more up close to her. Extremely close. "If you were smart, you'd learn to keep your trap shut. I'd gag you but I need some information from you anyway. And by the way... take this as a piece of advice. You can't replace human emotions for lifeless metal trash." His hand let go, pushing her face away from him. "You say you have a crew, but I don't see your crew around. I must say though, if your crew does show up, I will be very surprised."
Another painful shock of electricity was sent through her body, making her scream in agony.
"I'm not wasting my time with you. Where did you take the asset!?"
"I... won't... say... a thing!" The woman panted, trying not to pass out. "I won't tell you a thing! Even if I have to die, I still won't talk. I rather die protecting them than to live and give them up."
"That can easily be arranged," Varan sneered.
One of the commando droids spun an electrostaff around and jabbed it right in her stomach, making her yell out in pain and agony. Her head hung down as she panted heavily, trying not to faint or collapse on the spot.
"Why not just kill me!?"
"Because I want you to suffer. I want you to experience every ounce of pain that penetrates your body, and watch as your energy slowly gives away. I want to witness your demise. Lucky for you, I have other business to attend to at the moment. So, I'll just let you sit there and suffer. I'll come back when I feel like making you suffer some more. Troopers, come."
The two hairy beasts grunted and followed Varan out of the interrogation room, leaving Mando all on her own as she tried to keep herself together and not pass out or faint. She wriggled her wrists around, trying to break out. There had to have been some way to get freed. And she had to get out of here, but how?
Back On Naboo...
Lyra sat at a small makeshift table, made out of cargo containers that were sitting inside the hangar. Lyra sat at one end with the baby sitting in a high chair, and Derpy sitting across from her. The Bakers Batch troopers were also sitting with them, all enjoying a delicious lunch. Only one problem; Flurry was pouting in her chair, refusing to eat.
"Flurry, come on sweetie, you need to eat," Lyra said sweetly, patting her head. "You want to grow big and strong, don't you?" Flurry kept pushing her food away, much to Lyra's annoyance. "Flurry, come on." She thought some more, how to get her to eat? Any other times, there was no problem. When Flurry was hungry, she took her food as told. But Lyra wasn't going to hold back. "Flurry?"
The baby pouted, until she saw what Lyra was holding. Her little snail plushie that she always loved to snuggle with at night. She gasped in delight, and Lyra took that opportunity to quickly give her a spoonful of that food. The baby coughed in disgust, but she didn't hack up the food.
"Thank you."
Flurry folded up her arms, pouting.
"Okay, fine, if you don't want to eat now, you don't. But you cannot refuse it forever, understand?" Lyra said, sternly as she pointed a finger at Flurry.
The baby nodded, understanding.
"Good. Now, I will let you down so you can get back to your drawing," Lyra said, getting up. She helped get the baby out of her high chair and set her down on the floor next to her crayons and papers. Someone was kind enough to give them to Flurry to keep herself occupied since they didn't exactly have anything else around here momentarily. But it was effective, and it did keep Flurry's happiness at a good high. "So Derpy, please, talk to me, what has been happening in your world?"
The wall-eyed girl shrugged. "Um, not really anything. We've been doing well on some missions, I'm glad about that. We almost were defeated on Ryloth, but we did fine there. And since we've been doing so good we were granted more access for ships and expansions of troops."
Lyra smiled softly. "That's nice. Any new boys added to the Baker's Batch?"
"Well we did get a new guy, Vargas," trooper Mix said, gesturing to the new 'shiny' next to him who just awkwardly waved.
"Nice to meet you Vargas," Lyra nodded.
"Oh did you tell her the big news?" Bubbles asked.
"Which one?"
"The first one."
Derpy squeaked. "Oh that! Kamino finally approved the commission of Phase II armor, we're going to get Phase II armor next week!"
"That's great Derpy. ... Too bad all my troops are dead, but that's great!"
"Yep! We even got word from Captain Rex, he and the 501st have gotten new armor. Jesse, Hardcase, Kix, Tup, all of them!"
"And how are they doing?" Lyra asked.
Just then, Lyra felt her sleeve being tugged at by an invisible force. Looking down, she saw Flurry reaching her arm out to get her attention, giggling as she pat her arms on the floor. The Jedi nanny could see Flurry had been finished something she wanted to share.
"Hey sweetie, what are you drawing?" Lyra asked.
The little baby raised her picture up, letting Lyra take a look at it. The picture just made her heart snap. A rough display of the baby, herself, and just based on the blue and black scribbles, she saw the Mandalorian woman. She frowned a little, remembering how she left so quickly even though she was offered protection.
And when she looked down, she saw Flurry whimpering some more. She was pawing at a small picture which had apparently been taken inside the ship. Cheep, the astromech droid had apparently snapped a photo and found a way to make it a physical form, showing the Mandalorian holding her and tucking her back into her crib.
"Oh, Flurry..." Lyra slowly picked up the baby. "Sweetie, I'm so sorry, I know you miss her, but I just don't think she'll be coming back."
Just then, a clone captain came running into the hangar, looking for the group who was on their break. “Commander, an unidentified ship is coming this way,” the captain reported. “Looks like a freighter of some kind.”
Lyra was confused. “Kind of a strange transport to be coming back here…”
The Jedi joined the clones and watched as a ship started to fly into the hangar… the same ship that she had been taken onto for the entire trip back. The sight alone made her heart beat, and a smile come back on her face. “She’s back?”
“She, general?” Bubbles asked.
“The Mandalorian, that’s the bounty hunter who brought me here,” Lyra said.
Bubbles and the rest of the Baker's Batch stood together and held their guns to fight as a line of defense, unknowing of the inhabitants of the bounty hunting vessel. The hatch slowly opened up with several amount of steam hissing through. She waited for her to come through, was she going to see her again? Was she finally going to see her once more?
Sadly no, as the only things coming out of the ship were two screaming astromechs who fell and bounced out of the hatch and onto the ground, slamming right on their faces.
“Cheep? G-G?”
Lyra set the baby down and ran over and picked up Cheep, getting him back on his legs, and then did the same to G-G. Their dome heads spun around in several circles, trying to get themselves back to normal, or at least mostly normal.
“Chorup, chirp chirp chirp!”
“Slow down guys, what’s wrong?”
“General, you know these droids?” Bubbles asked.
“They belonged to the Mandalorian. What’s wrong guys?” Lyra said again, petting them both.
“Bwoop boop bwoooo. Brt beep bwoop boop.”
“Captured? Wait, how, who?”
“Chirp chirp chirp. Chirip.”
Lyra was now scared. “Oh no… I knew something like that was going to happen, I just knew it. Why didn’t she try to call for help?”
“Bwoop brt brt beep bwoop.”
“Caught before she got a chance, okay that makes sense,” Lyra tilted her head, scrunching at her temples. “But why didn’t she stay, if she knew this was the case? We could have helped her!”
“Chirp chirp?”
Lyra sighed. “I’ll ask her that myself." But then she got an idea. A wonderful idea. One that made her give a mischievous smirk to the two robots in front of her. "Do you two feel a little frisky?”
The two droids nodded in agreement.
“Bweep bwoop brt boop.”
“We're going to do a little rescuing, boys. Can I count on you two?”
"Wait, where are you going?" Derpy asked, watching as Lyra took the baby in her hands and ran into the ship with the two astromechs.
"I have to go rescue someone! If I'm not back, contact the Temple and tell them to send forces to... um, Cheep, where did you say she was at?"
"Chirp churp."
"Sullust, okay! Send an assault force on Sullust! I'll be back!"
Derpy didn't have time to reply, because the hatch soon closed afterwards. Lyra climbed up to the cockpit, setting the baby down in the metal crib that was still left inside up, and pulling herself in the seat. Except, she felt herself just a little too close to the controls.
"Geez, Mando has the seat so close, how can she drive like this?" Lyra huffed, trying to adjust her seat. She pulled the seat back, and activated the engines, prepping for takeoff. Everyone in the hangar got away from the ship as it started to jump. Flames burst from the engines as it thrust out of the hangar and so it left, zooming up into the sky.
The calculations were made, and the navigation was set, and so the ship jumped into hyperspace to Sullust.
While the ship was making good time, Lyra decided to lend a hand to Cheep and G-G below deck. The blasts on the droids had done severe damage, and she needed to help them get them patched up. The two astromechs thankfully knew how to repair them and knew how to bring them back up, while Lyra was more of just an assistant. Sure she tinkered with a droid now and then, but she wasn't any expert. Ships yes, but bots? Not so much.
Note to self, learn droid repair from Mando.
In the time they were onboard, two of the commando droids had been activated once again, and they were able to provide help for a third unit. Only problem was they were on a time crunch and couldn't turn on all four. Lyra would have to settle for three.
The final circuits were fused, and the third of the four commando droids were up and walking again. It looked at Lyra. “Thank you friend. How can we repay you?”
“We need to rescue the Mandalorian,” Lyra suggested, standing back up. “You guys are tough, right?”
“We are,” the commando droid responded.
“Then let’s use that to our advantage. But I need your help with some other things first,” Lyra ordered, helping sit K2's body on the construction table.
“Roger roger.”
--
Eventually the ship arrived, doing a few circles around the land to try and find a good spot to land. Their eyes soon set on an empty landing pad, parked next to one of the shuttles. The crew stared out the cockpit windows, trying to look around and get a feel of the place.
"I cannot calculate how many Storm guards, troopers, or battle droids are inside the base," K2 said, looking through the windows.
"Rats. But what about the guards?" Lyra pouted.
"Bwoop beep bweep."
"No G-G, I'm not going to turn over the baby," Lyra said. She rubbed her temples, thinking for a moment. Her eyes looked over to the crib, and a lightbulb flickered over her head. “I have an idea.”
The hatch opened up, and their attention was given to the Storm Guards still standing outside the entrance. The big hairy beasts growled and glared at the returning intruders. And some battle droids were also drawn to the ship opening up as well.
Some metal footsteps clanked, echoing as they walked out the ship. A pair of purple and gold legs walking out first, following by leather boots, and more metal feet. K2-B4 walked out first, Lyra Heartstrings walked behind him with a set of electro-cuffs, and the rest of the Mandalorian’s commando droid crew walked close behind. The hovering crib came behind them, with G-G close to it, covering their tracks.
“Our arrival is long overdue,” K2 stated. “We have captured the Jedi and the wanted asset.”
The guards looked at each other, and then to the crew that was with the tactical droid. Seemed normal enough, nothing suspicious out of the ordinary. Their staffs moved out of the way, allowing K2 and his pack to walk inside.
“Thank you.”
The droids and Lyra marched inside, receiving some glares from the Stormtroopers and battle droids, but their attention was completely gone once they had walked inside. K2 led the group around the corner, away from the security cameras and into a space where they could sit momentarily. The first commando droid fired a shot at the nearby cameras, hopefully disabling them for the time being.
With surveillance off them, K2 removed the electro-cuffs off of Lyra, freeing her wrists. And one of the commandos pulled her lightsaber out from behind his back and gave it back to her.
“Excellent. Okay, here’s the plan. We need to find the prison cells and get Mando out. We have one job and one job only, and that’s getting her freed. K2, and two commandos, can you find the security offices? We need to find out where she's being held."
"Roger roger."
"Excellent. While you three go, I'll take the other commando and G-G to do a search. Let us know if you run into any problems, and stay online."
"Yes, Master Jedi," K2 nodded.
The group of three went on their way, leaving Lyra, G-G, and the other commando droid to set off on their own path. Lyra's team ran around a corner, ducking the security cameras
"Flurry should be safe on the ship with Cheep and Bee, and they should contact our friends for help if this goes wrong. Now let us get going!"
--
The tactical droid and two commandos wandering the halls, completely blending in with everyone else within this outpost. Not one person or droid suspected that these three were completely out of place, as luck would have it. K2's finger hit the button, and the doors opened up. Inside were a few other battle droids, monitoring security and parts of the base. And in the command chair was a lowly tactical droid, only difference being the colors he was blazed with.
"Who are you?" The tactician asked.
K2 looked to his two commando compatriots who closed the doors behind him and cocked their guns. The battle droids didn't have time to react, as the commandos jumped all around and blasted each of their heads before they could have a chance to fight. Even the tactical droid sitting in the command chair didn't get a fighting chance, he was just blasted on the spot.
K2 pushed his body out of the chair and sat down, looking at the controls in front of him. His fingers typed, looking through the systems. Finally some screens came up, revealing the security cameras for the cells. One of them finally came up, showing the Mandalorian struggling to break free. Looking down, K2 saw a release button and pressed it, watching as the Mandalorian was dropped from her containment field and onto the ground.
Just then, a small button was blinking on the console, insisting that the tactician or whoever was in charge answer it. He didn't hesitate and pressed the button.
"This is Central Command. Please identify yourself."
"TX, it's me you malfunctioning clanker! Look, I'm going to be in a long meeting with these bounty hunters and trying to get them to understand they aren't getting paid, so make sure the Mandalorian doesn't escape! She knows where they are, and we can still use it."
"Affirmative commander."
"Good, now--wait a minute. What happened to your voice? You sound funny."
"A small malfunction, sir, nothing to be concerned about," K2 finished, hanging up right away and not letting the commander talk back. He got up from the seat, looking to the two commandos. "We must move quickly before he finds us."
"We have another problem," one of the commandos said, giving K2 a manifest. The purple and gold tactical droid stared at the console, reading the signals and logs that had been put into the device.
"We must find the Jedi at once."
Meanwhile, Lyra, G-G, and the other commando unit moved down the hallway, trying to avoid being caught by anyone or anythign in sight. So far, so good. No sign of any hostiles to be afraid of. And everyone that passed by so far hadn't questioned the fact that a commando droid had two odd limbs attached.
"Droid."
Okay, now someone did. A Stormtrooper (one of many things the Storm Empire tried to make of their own) stood in front of them.
"Where are you taking this prisoner?"
The commando unit froze. He looked back to Lyra, and then back to the Stormtrooper. "I am taking the prisoner to the prison cells."
"And what happened to your arm?"
The commando looked down, noticing that he a glaringly obvious B1 battle droid arm as a replacement. "I lost it, and was repaired with this one."
"No droid just loses an arm and gets repaired. You better step aside," the trooper insisted.
"Excuse me, I think this guy's got me just fine!" Lyra complained.
"Why aren't you cuffed?" The Stormtrooper pulled out a com device. "Okay, someone send some repair crews, we need to run--agh!"
The commando droid knocked the com device from his hand and swung a sword out. Lyra, in one of the few times she did, gave a smug grin on her face as she looked at him. "Knock him out."
"Roger roger."
The commando droid swung the blade around, conking him on the head hard enough to knock him out. But that was enough to get attention from some nearby battle droids walking around.
"Get them!"
Lyra pulled out her lightsaber quickly, igniting the blade to attack. The battle droids opened fire and Lyra blocked as many of the blasts as she could. The reprogrammed commando unit pulled out his gun and moved against the wall in a defense position, blasting away at the droids as they came.
Two of them were shot down, leaving four more left to go. Lyra ran up to them, slicing up one of the weapons and Force-pushing him against the ground, letting him clatter and bounce. Another one was kicked and sliced in half, while the other two received shots from the repurposed commando.
Lyra almost panicked, seeing one was still online, but thanks to G-G zapping him, he stayed dead. But she heard another coming right behind her. The minty Jedi jabbed her lightsaber into the droid coming behind her, and her face drooped when she saw it was a tactical droid. But by the time she could react, it was too late. The tactician dropped and collapsed on the ground, now destroyed. And around the corner, Lyra saw K2-B4 appear from the doors with the two commandos. The Jedi sighed in relief, glad that she didn't destroy her ally. Frankly speaking, she felt stupid. How did she miss the painfully obvious colors in front of her?
"Did you know that wasn't me?" K2-B4 questioned.
"... No, I didn't. I thought I screwed up. Wait, what are you doing back, did you get the intel?"
"Affirmative," K2 said, holding up a manifest. "She is located in prison cell 11-12-19. But there appears to have been a connection made with Storm forces on Kijimi and Mygeeto."
Lyra's eyes widened. "Wait, what?"
"Transmission logs show Commander Varan has contacted Storm Army forces to extract the Mandalorian."
And then Lyra facepalmed. "Fun. Well we better find her before any more get here. Although just based on how much Varan's wanting to go, I doubt the Storm King or Tempest will want to pursue this quest any further. Come on, we better find her and get out of here."
"Agreed."
And so the crew set off on their way.
--
The Mandalorian was in pain from the drop, but she was still awake. She didn't know what force had freed her from her restraints, but she wasn't about to complain. But she had to get out of here! She saw her helmet just laying on the ground and she slowly reached her arm out trying to grab it. Her hand weakly clamped onto her helmet, and she slowly dragged it to her, carefully sliding it on top of her head. She was still breathing heavily, trying to keep her strength together. She had to get out of here somehow, she was not planning on dying today!
But just as her eyes were getting more tired, she heard a sound of something penetrating through the steel doors. Slowly, she moved her head up, seeing a bright green blade prodding through the sides of the door, and she watched it start to go up, and to the left, and back down like it was trying to cut the door down. It didn't work. And then she saw the blade just go straight through the door and start making random slices and motions all in the door to get it to cut, until it finally came down in a bunch of random pieces.
“What the?” The Mandalorian said, looking up.
“It's meeee!” Lyra squeed.
The Mandalorian tried to get up on her feet, but with very little success. She was able to look right up at her though, staring at her beautiful golden eyes with shock under the helmet. “You… you came for me.”
“I’m not going to let the Storm Empire just take you. And you haven’t done any crimes to my knowledge,” Lyra winked.
"I... I don't know what to say," Mando panted, trying not to collapse again.
“Before I bust you out of here, there’s something I must know… Why did you refuse my offer to stay with us on Naboo for sanctuary!?" Lyra snapped, making the Mandalorian almost jump in shock. "Am I annoying? Do you really not like me?” The Mandalorian was going to speak, but Lyra still kept on talking and it was starting to get annoying. And it didn’t help that Lyra was starting to go teary-eyed now. “Why did you just leave us like that, do we mean—”
“—I didn’t want to leave!”
A deafening silence filled the air as the two stared at each other.
“You… you didn’t want to leave?”
“I was about to, but I couldn't bring myself to go. Honestly I wanted to leave because I know the works of all of those bounty hunters, they do not care who dies or doesn’t if they get a good paycheck. And after everything that happened to get you safely back to Naboo, to get you far away from them, I… I wasn’t ready to say goodbye. I wanted to come back to you, but they found me.”
Lyra was in shock, but her open jaw slowly smiled. “You really care?”
“I do. So much so that… can’t believe I’m saying this, if your offer for protection of the Republic is still available… I’d be more than happy to devote myself to your cause at this point forward. I’m done with the Bounty Hunter's Guild at this point, I’m already a wanted criminal by them and all of these other hunters by now.”
Lyra grinned. “Let’s get you out of here first. Come on.”
She helped the bounty hunter get back on her feet, thankfully not tripping over anything in the way. Mando still had one hand gripping her side, feeling the pain from the shocks and punches.
“Can you still walk?”
“Yeah, I think so. But they took my guns, smart sleemos,” The woman growled. “My guns are all on my ship.”
Two of the commandos moved in and helped Mando stand on her feet. Now that she had some help, she could see better in front of her, taking in who were all of the allies before her. “I see my commandos, K2, and G-G. Where is Cheep?” The Mandalorian asked.
“Oh don’t worry, he's back on the ship."
“Chorup?”
Lyra’s eyes shrunk as she hit her com device. What he said was startling her. “Um… yes, Cheep?”
“Chorp chorp chorp chorp chorp.”
The Mandalorian took a moment, pausing as she looked flat into Lyra’s eyes. “You brought the baby, didn't you?”
“I did.”
“The baby escaped, didn't she?"
"She did."
"Did it at all occur to you that bringing the baby might not have been the best idea?”
“Okay, lemme just ask you this straight…”, Mando said, struggling to stand up. “Are you out of your mind!?”
“I wasn’t thinking at the time!” Lyra protested.
“They’ll kill the baby!”
“Over my dead body they will,” Lyra pointed.
“That’s what I’m saying, you would be dead too in that scenario!” Mando groaned.
“Well I’m arguing against that!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Why are you yelling at me?”
“Because I love that baby and I don’t want to see it dead, you idiot!” The Mandalorian snapped.
Lyra scrunched at her own face. “I’m so stupid, what was I thinking!?”
“Well is there anyone else you brought with you that could look out for her!?”
--
In fact, there was. Back on the ship, a new droid had been activated. His long stiff legs stood on the ground, and two small little eyes spun around to analyze his location. Behind his back were two weapons to use for combat, and his head was as small and skinny like a cone. And only one objective was on his mind...
While Lyra and her crew worked to rescue the Mandalorian, the baby was left alone in the ship under the watch of Cheep. The C1 unit thought she'd be safe in her little crib, but he was wrong. Very wrong. Flurry climbed out of her crib and waddled along the ship, walking straight down the ramp. She didn't know she wasn't supposed to leave, she wanted to explore. There was more out there, she was sure of it!
Her little eyes winced at the brightness, but they eventually adjusted. And when she waddled out, she nearly tripped on a small rock. She quickly got back up though, the pain only being minor. All beyond her eyes she just saw a barren land. There had to be something out here. Mama couldn't have gotten far, could he? Well she was going to find her! She had to save her!
Flurry's little feet waddled on the ground, avoiding the hazards that lay on the ground. A few bugs, but she mostly just ignored those. Too icky. She didn't even pursue the little frogs she saw hopping on the ground, regardless of how much she wanted one. She walked some more, not knowing how much time had passed, though the little baby didn't know the concept of time just yet.
But something new got her attention. She felt some vibrations in the ground, like they were shaking. Not natural vibrations, but it felt like if something was coming her way. The baby whimpered in fear, and quickly she moved herself around, hiding behind a rock as something was roaring and racing towards her direction.
The sounds got louder and louder until it they died down right in front of her, and she heard the sounds of feet stepping onto the terrain. She listened, and poked her head out. Two scary men in white armor were on those bikes. But they weren't clones.
"Speeder bikes have arrived at the outpost, waiting for confirmation to come inside," the first Stormtrooper said into the com device. He waited for a reply, but got none. "TX, are you there? TX?"
Nothing.
The Stormtrooper rolled his eyes under the helmet and just sat on the bike, looking annoyed.
"No reply?", the second Stormtrooper asked.
"Not a thing. I keep telling Varan to scrap those tactical droids, he never listens to me. Just keeps it around as his glorified secretary, I swear," the first trooper groaned, shaking his head.
"Aren't they going to be replaced? Isn't there a new line of super tactical droids being made?"
"Kind of. They're expensive to make," he said. "So far, all we've gotten is that Kalani guy, and he left for Agamar."
Flurry whimpered some more, cooing softly. She moved from behind the rock, thinking about trying to run back to the ship. The baby however didn't look where she was going and she tripped over a rock, falling backwards. The noise was enough to get their attention, but she quickly got back on her feet.
"What the..."
The Stormtrooper got off the bike, slowly approaching the baby. "Where did you come from?"
"Ehh..." the baby babbled, trying to back away.
"Stop, you're scaring her," the other Stormtrooper scuffed, pushing him away.
"It's fine," he said, squatting down to look at her. "Hi there. Where did you come from?"
Little Flurry slowly backed away, fearing the big scary man in white armor. Sure she had seen clones, but they were so bright and colorful. These were scary ones, devoid of such individuality and color; and the faces on the helmets didn't help matters either.
"She thinks we're scary. I know, my daughter acts the same way whenever she sees me wear this," the second Stormtrooper said.
"Come on, we're not that scary," the first one reached his arms out to grab her, and Flurry reacted with a bite on his finger. "OW! The little... why I ought--"
The baby whimpered and she backed away even further, recognizing that scrunched up fist as a sign of danger.
"Don't you DARE punch that baby," the second Stormtrooper warned, yanking his ally back.
"You've shot and blown up ships, buildings, and homes, and this is where you draw the line?"
"She's a baby! You don't just go punching babies! The last thing you want is some angry mother obliterating you after you do something to stress or upset--
"Wah!"
The baby fell over after a severe pain hit her body. The Stormtrooper couldn't believe his eye as he stared at his friend. "... You bastard. YOU BASTARD."
"She's fine!"
"You know, I might as well... what the hell?"
A skinny figure was emerging from the fog, marching forward in a stiff fashion. His arms and legs were as skinny as sticks, and his head was shaped like a cone. Two eyes were staring forward as he glared at the two Stormtroopers intensely.
"Stop that."
The first trooper raised his gun. "Identify yourself!"
"I am IG-11. I am this child's nurse droid, and require that you remand her to me immediately."
The Stormtrooper snickered. "A nurse droid?"
"Aren't these IG units assassin droids?"
"I require you to remand the child to me immediately," the now proclaimed nurse droid stated again, waiting for an answer.
"Okay, so he is a nurse." the first Stormtrooper laughed.
But IG-11 wasn't laughing. He marched forward, approaching the Stormtroopers, not moving any of his arms or other parts of his body. Not that he needed to, he didn't want to scare the baby.
"I'm sorry nurse droid, you're going to have to get out of here.," the Stormtrooper snarked. He opened fire, but somehow against all common sense and logic, the laser blast fired at a random rock even though the droid was smack-dab in front of him.
"Are you refusing my request?"
"No, we're telling you to get out of here."
Realizing that talking wasn't going to be of any use, IG-11 threw his arm forward and clutched the Stormtrooper's hand that held the small pistol. He twisted it hard enough to make a loud cracking sound, making him drop the gun and grunt out of pain. His hand was now broken, but that was going to be the least of his issues.
The former assassin threw him against the ground, knocking the wind out of him. The other tried to shoot, but IG-11 was too fast and he knocked the pistol out with one arm, and his entire upper torso spun around so he could grab his head with his other arm. With a steel grip, he started to bash his entire body against the bike he was sitting on, ruthlessly. He screamed in pain until the job had finally been done and the Stormtrooper had been annihilated.
Sensing the danger was gone, IG-11 looked back over to the baby on the ground, who just stared at this big metal thing with wonder. She had never seen anything like it, it was beyond fascinating. Squatting down, IG-11 got close to her eye sight, and his little fingers lightly stroked the top of her head, making her laugh.
"That was unpleasant. I'm sorry you had to see that."
"Chup chup chup."
The two of them heard that sound, and directed their eyes to the droid that was approaching them. Excited, Flurry's little hands clapped with joy when she saw a familiar astromech unit roll towards the two of them. IG-11's eyes turned, recognizing the droid approaching them.
"Cheep!" Flurry babbled.
"Chirp churp."
"You are CH-33P," IG-11 stated.
"Chirp chup choop, chirp chirp chirp."
"I acknowledge your statement. We must help rescue the Mandalorian," the former assassin agreed. His head swiveled around, looking at the intact bike. "I have ourselves a mode of transport to get us there."
Carefully, he picked up Flurry and set her down in a little brown sack that was hanging off the side of the bike to keep her safe. And with her safely held, she picked up the sack and moved it over so it hung over his shoulders so he could carry her and protect her. Turning around, IG-11 marched towards the bike, and sat down on the seat, moving his hands out to grip the bars. Cheep raised a little claw, raising it up in a fist motion; followed by a burst of flame erupting from his third socket, making him fly in the air.
"Chirp chup chup choop."
"Oh thank goodness," Lyra said on the other end. "Okay, Cheep, here's the plan. We're on our way back, but we're going to try to leave through the hangar. Just meet us at the far end of the outpost, should be a big open area, kind of like a docking bay."
"That will not be necessary. We are on our way," IG-11 said, revving the bike.
"Who is this? Hey, who are you!?
No time for him to answer, for he and Cheep raced off to the hangar.
"We better get out of here fast, I just heard a complete stranger talk on the other line, and I don't think that's a good sign," Lyra feared.
"Right," the Mandalorian grunted, trying to stand up with Lyra moving underneath her. "Not that I don't appreciate your help, but shouldn't you need your lightsaber?"
"I will when I need to fight, but right now I don't. Come on guys, let's just get out of here!"
The group wandered down the halls, avoiding as many guards as they could. They were a few cameras, although they had to quickly blast them before they could be seen. Admittedly Lyra wished they didn't have to, but she didn't want to risk the possibility of anyone coming back to the security room and finding them trying to escape.
K2-B4, keeping up with the group held a small manifest in his hands, having downloaded some information from the office earlier. "We have a potential problem with our escape. If the battle droids are alerted to our prescence, they will block the main entrance. I calculate our chances of success against them are .035% to 1."
"Then we should go through the hangar bay, maybe there won't be as many droids there."
She would soon curse herself and her words. They were nearing the entrance, but they went straight past it, ignoring it entirely. The group followed a path to another set of doors. They opened up, revealing a massive hangar bay with a few lifts and cranes meant for moving cargo supplies all around, and a few spots for ships to park inside. Only one problem; there were a few battle droids who were inside, and they all heard the intruders coming into the bay.
"Uh oh."
All of the battle droids cocked their weapons.
"Just what I thought would happen, fire!" Lyra ordered.
The commando droids opened fire, blasting at some of the battle droids. Every droid in the hangar who was busy at work dropped what they were doing and put their attention on the rogue droids and Jedi who were trying to escape. Everyone went to hide, taking cover behind some cargo boxes. The lasers flew over their heads, but they didn't stay down and cower.
K2, the commandos and Lyra all got up to try and fight back. K2 managed to shoot at a few of the battle droids, striking their weak points with semi-accuracy. The commando droids had no struggles and they obliterated a good portion of the droids charging at them. Three B1 units who were charging towards them got taken out one by one by the commandos, they were no use against their superior programming.
And it got worse when a bunch of Stormtroopers came into the hangar, joining the fray.
"So Lyra, explain to me something," The Mandalorian shouted as they ducked behind some cover. "The Storm Army has battle droids, Storm Guards, and Stormtroopers? Don't you guys already have Clone troopers fighting?"
"I don't know why either, I thought they were just exclusively the hairy beasts!" Lyra replied, blocking another blaster fire. "I guess he wanted his own versions of our Clones!"
Lyra swung her blade around again, deflecting another blast.
But as they kept firing, they noticed some more and more coming in to blast them to pieces. But something was off. Many of them that were all the way out in the open, far behind the groups up front were getting blasted by something. But none of them could see who it was that was attacking them from the rear.
"Wait, something's blasting them from the back!" Mando yelled, noting a few battle droids falling down from behind the large group. "Did you bring more reinforcements?"
"Um, no! I didn't!"
"Then what's hitting them?"
Two skinny stick legs marched forward, accompanied by the laughing of a toddler. The battle droids didn't react in time as most of them were continuing to get shot down and destroyed upon the blasts. Lyra and the group got up to shoot/block some more, and finally saw enough open to space to see what was breaking through their lines. An IG unit, spinning and twirling was shooting up a storm as he broke through the crowd.
His eyes kept spinning around in circles as he did a wide radius search for every threat that was incoming, and spun his arms in every direction he could to eliminate the targets. All the while, in a small but protective sack was the baby, laughing and giggling to see all of the droids start to run away in an over the top manner.
"Oh my god, FLURRY!" Lyra shrieked. "What is that thing doing!?"
"I am fulfilling my base function," the IG-11 responded, shooting at two enemy battle droids coming around a corner.
"Which is!?"
"To nurse and protect!"
The IG unit fired at more battle droids that were incoming, destroying them in the process. At last for now, the compound wasn't filled with battle droids trying to chase them, and they had a moment of peace. The IG unit focused its attention onto the group, recognizing them as friends and slowly approaching them.
"Wh... what did you just say?" Lyra questioned, keeping her lightsaber out.
"I am repurposed to nurse and protect. You are this child's mother, and I am this child's nurse droid," IG-11 replied.
Mando slowly stepped up, keeping some caution. "What did you say your name was again?"
"I am IG-11."
"IG... wait. You're... you're my..."
"I am the IG unit that you brought to repair. And I am fulfilling my base function to protect this child from all threats."
Lyra and the Mandalorian looked at each other, and back at the IG unit. Their eyes were then drawn to the baby, who just sat in a little baby carrier, completely unharmed and okay. She just laughed and giggled, and when she saw the Mando in front of her, she reached her arms out to try and touch her.
"Hey sweetie," the Mandalorian cooed. Carefully, the bounty hunter picked up the baby from the little sack she sat in so she could hold her. "It's okay. It's okay. It's me."
Flurry giggled happily, laying her head against her as she gave her a big hug.
"Chirp chirrrp."
And Cheep landed next to the repurposed IG unit, wiggling with joy.
"Hey Cheep," she said. "I'm glad you're okay buddy."
"Chirp churp, chup chirp choop chirp."
"Agreed." Mando looked over to Lyra, keeping Flurry steady in her arms. "We better get out of here."
Everyone turned their backs around, facing the outside world just beyond the hangar. Like leaves in the wind, their hopes of departing right away were gone.
An entire battalion of battle droids and Stormtroopers stood in front of the hangar. All of them had their guns cocked, ready to shoot at the escapees. And right in the center of them all was Varan, looking crazier and crazier with every eye twitch. Lyra growled and grit her teeth as she faced them all, and stood up with boiling blood and igniting fire.
“Your tanks destroyed my walkers. Your armies hunted my clone troopers. Your gunmen killed my captain. Your bounty hunters attacked and kidnapped my friend, and you tried to kill my baby.” Lyra grit her teeth and glared. “I’m not leaving until I see your entire base in ruins.”
“Kill them all!” Varan shrieked.
Lyra, Bon Bon, and the droids all ducked behind cargo crates as the battle droids all shot at once, firing multiple beams to the sides.
“Actually, we should probably just leave,” Lyra corrected herself. “Now where did I park the ship?”
"Hang on Jedi. We're not leaving just yet," Mando said. "I'm going to be stiff, but I can still fight," she looked to her squadron of repurposed droids. "Does every droid with two legs have a gun or something to fight with?"
"Roger roger."
"Yes mistress."
"Affirmative."
"Chirp chirp."
"Bweep boop."
Lyra's eyes widened. "Wait, the astromechs have guns!?"
Cheep's little arms unfolded, one of them showing the small pistol he had taken from one of the Stormtroopers outside the base.
"Cheep's little arms can still pull the trigger of a standard pistol. As for G-G? Well, I might have installed a small gun on him as an extra line of defense. Now come on everyone, let's show them what we're made of!"
Two of the commando droids ran out first, taking cover behind some boxes to take aim. The third eventually joining them by standing on top of the crates, focusing his eyes on every droid he could. K2-B4 stayed behind the cover he was currently near, but moved his arms and head out a few times to fire back thanks to the gun that Lyra gave him.
IG-11, with absolutely no fear, stood back up on his two legs and stood up and began firing rapidly and devastatingly, hitting more targets than Bon Bon's droids could hit on their own. His scopes kept swiveling and moving around as he focused on every target in sight, hitting as many battle droids as possible, only receiving a few hits at his body.
Cheep and G-G took position from the other side, staying with the hurt Mandalorian and Lyra. Cheep stuck his little arm up and fired a few shots at some droids, sadly not getting any shots in since he couldn't see any. But when he rolled out from his hiding spot, he was able to deliver one or two shots in at some B1 units who fell from the fire. G-G, ready to take a stand, moved out of hiding and stared at the enemies in front of him. The battle droids barely paid any attention to the droid with golden streaks over his dome and torso, not believing he was worth the trouble.
But then... it happened. A small little barrel unloaded from the top of his dome, connected to a chain of small laser rounds that equipped from his back. The barrel unloaded and several parts connected together to create a completed gun, and G-G, locking his struts down via magnetic force, unleashed a round of lasers at the battle droids in front of them. One down, two down, three down, many of them were going down before their eyes!
"Dang it, why couldn't I have installed those on R3!?" Lyra pouted. Getting her priorities straight, she looked at the baby who just sat on the ground. "Okay, Flurry, this is hard to understand, but do not move. Understand?"
Flurry just tilted her head.
"Stay!"
Flurry didn't move, and just sat on the ground, wondering what was going on. Lyra pulled out her lightsaber and she jumped out from her cover, ready to fight. She swung her blade around, blocking every laserblast that dared try to attack her and her friends, deflecting as many shots as she could, firing them back at a few of the battle droids.
IG-11 had no problem stepping forward, he swung his blasters in every direction, trying to take down as many enemies as he could. He was going to protect that child at all costs. A few shots hit him, but they weren't anything serious. G-G still was able to lock on target and nail as many droids as he could, most of them running from his line of fire or just kept marching forward and made easy targets. Not even the Stormtroopers were lucky against him.
One of the commando droids, taking aim on top of a crate was hit in the stomach and chest, and one more shot did the deed; a blaster bolt to the head took him out, destroying him.
"Well we lost one!" Lyra shouted, blocking another blast.
"Still have me!" Mando shouted. Struggling, she pulled herself up on her feet, draping her body on some crates. She got a gun (which they picked up from destroyed battle droids) and she opened fire to join them. She hit multiple Stormtroopers in the chests, taking them down rather easily. "Sheesh, is their armor made of plastic?"
"Their armor is nothing like Clone armor, I can tell you that!" Lyra joked, blocking another blast.
Using all of her strength, the Mandalorian got back on her feet, cupping one arm at her side that was in pain and kept the other hand up, firing her weapon. They still had plenty of droids and troopers to go through if they were going to make it out of here alive.
Lyra looked at the Mandalorian smiling with glee. "Glad to see you can still fight!"
"I just hope I can keep it up long enough!"
Lyra's head moved to look at her side to check on the empty space next to her--wait.
"Wait, where's Flurry!?"
The Jedi panicked and darted her head around. She left the baby alone for a few minutes, how could she have gotten away from her sight!? But wait, she saw her! Flurry was just waddling near the walls of the right of the hangar, staying away from the line of fire. She was relieved she wasn't in the way, but on the other hand, this little baby was waddling out there on her own!
"Oh good God, stop leaving her by herself!" Mando yelled, blasting a few droids before they could see her.
"I never leave her by herself!"
The baby didn't hear her, and just kept waddling along like she was off on her own business.
"Flurry!" Lyra shrieked.
That earpiercing shriek carried throughout the entire hangar bay, catching the baby's attention. Worse, it caught the attention of everyone. A good handful of Stormtroopers and battle droids saw where she was looking and they diverted their attention to where she was.
Flurry stopped in her tracks, whimpering when she saw Lyra calling out to her. "Mama..."
Lyra gasped and cupped her mouth. Did she... call her mom? But her delight died when some of the B1 droids turned their heads to see the infant on the ground.
"What's this infant doing here?"
"I don't know. Do we kill it?"
That thought alone made Lyra's anxiety amped up to eleven as she started to run right at them, but then she stopped. She looked at Flurry who started twitching her face. She felt her nose starting to itch, and she felt the urge to sneeze coming back to her.
Lyra remembered what was about to come and she yelled one thing to her allies who were fighting.
"Take cover!!!"
Lyra ducked on the ground, covering her ears to brace herself. The battle droids weren't sure what she meant, until it happened.
A powerful wave of sound and Force sent the battle droids surrounding her flying into the air and smashing them into pieces upon the blast. Not only that, but the wave stretched so hard it threw the rest of the battle droids and the Stormtroopers in the hangar, throwing them hard against the walls and cargo crates.
Boxes clattered, droids were smashed, even the cries of Stormtroopers in pain were let out as they were thrashed all around by the uncontrollable burst of Force. Even Varan who was eager to grab the asset got thrown just like everyone else, with no way to prevent it from happening.
When the wave finally died down, everything was still and quiet. A few Stormtroopers moaned in pain, and battle droids were fizzing out from sparks. Everyone in the entire hangar had been taken out.
Mando raised her head up lightly, with K2-B4 slowly lifting his up next to her on the right, and IG-11 on her left.
"... Okay."
The baby looked like she was about to sneeze again, but this time she just lightly sneezed, shaking it off. And she plunked herself back down on her bottom, sitting on the ground, looking all around. She saw the destroyed battle droids, and her eyes widened out of shock. Did she do that?
Lyra moved in and scooped up the baby in her arms, giggling with joy. "You saved us, you silly little thing."
The baby giggled, trying to reach her arms out to hug her.
"You just saved our lives, yis you did, yis you did!" And she lightly threw her up in the air and caught her again with her arms, keeping her safe. "But don't you ever go running off like that," Lyra said, sternly booping her nose. "Understand?"
The baby understood and nodded softly.
The quiet in the hangar came to an end when a well dressed commander came running at them like a hangry animal. Varan screamed like a maniac as he tried to attack the Mandalorian, but she was more than ready for him. She stepped out of the way, making him almost fall forwards, but he caught himself. And when he turned around to attack again, the Mandalorian swung her leg around and kicked him in the jaw, and swung her leg on the ground to knock him over.
Varan groaned from the fall, but he had one more trick to pull on them. He pressed a button, and from the outside platforms, three droidekas rolled inside, extending their blasters and sitting up right for attack positions. Ray shields flipped on all around them, and they opened fire on the Mandalorian and her team.
The Storm commander, taking his chance, got back up on his knees and stumbled, trying to walk away with what strength he had left. He wasn't about ot waste anymore time on this fruitless endeavor. But he didn't count on the two repurposed commando droids stepping in the way, cocking their weapons at him and holding him at gunpoint.
Lyra deflected as many as the blasts as she could, but she knew she couldn't hold them for long. The Mandalorian looked around, there had to have been something she could use to take them down. Looking high above, she saw some cargo hanging from the ceiling. That should do the trick.
Reaching out for the gun, she gripped it in her hand. She pointed it up towards the crates, looking for the weakest positions to fire. She fired a few shots at the cables holding it up, and watched as they started to give away until they all dropped and completely flattened them into droid pancakes.
Lyra panted slightly, but she flipped her lightsaber around and turned it off, putting it back on the side of her belt. She smiled at the Mandalorian, helping her get back up. "Nice shot."
"Thanks," Mando grunted, getting back up. "So, who else is left? Any more we need to fight?"
“There are no more battle droids. We have survived,” K2 stated, observing the surroundings.
“We won?” Lyra gasped.
“We have made a successful victory,” K2 concluded.
“Eeeeee!”
She picked up Mando and swung her around in the happiest dance ever, filled with so much joy and energy as she did so. And even for how surprised she was to be swung like this, Mando did not hate it. And instead, she simply leaned her head in to try and give her an embracing hug.
“We did, didn’t we?”
“You bet we did,” Lyra smiled.
The two of them heard the sound of little Flurry giggling, and saw her cooing and laughing as she waddled towards them.
“This child is safe now.”
Lyra for once, did not feel in danger with the assassin droid around her. Instead she walked towards him and softly smiled, patting his shoulder, and innocently kissing his head. “Thank you, IG-11.”
“I was only doing my duty, to nurse and protect.”
“Well you did it amazingly. I would love to have you around some more, if you are still functioning.”
“And if you would still wish to stay and protect her,” Mando offered. “I may have fixed you, but whether you want to stay on my crew is your personal choice. You have complete free will."
IG-11’s head swiveled and spun around, his eyes constantly checking to make sure they were still safe. “I wish to stay and protect the girl.”
“Fine by me,” Lyra grinned. “Now where’s that crazy commander?”
“We have him, General.”
Lyra and Mando saw the remaining two commando droids march towards them, with their fingers locked around Varan’s arms, holding him in place as they brought him towards Lyra and Mando.
“So what should we do with him now?” Lyra asked, with a glare and her hands on her hips.
“He has instigated multiple war crimes, including attempted child assassination. The law dictates that he should be terminated,” K2 concluded, raising a gun and pointing at him.
“No, hold on, do not fire,” Lyra ordered, getting the tactician to lower the weapon.
“So, Mandalorian. How does it feel knowing that your secret is gone? Now that I have seen your face, you will have to remove that helmet, and never hide again. Isn’t that what you Mandalorians do?” Varan growled.
The Mandalorian had every urge to strangle him right here and now, but she held herself back. And their eyes immediately turned to the doors as Cad Bane and the rest of the bounty hunters appeared.
“Oh thank goodness you’re all here, shoot them, shoot them now! Kill them and I’ll triple the pay I promised!”
None of them reacted, nor did they change their facial expressions. Instead, they just casually walked into the open hangar, and right past them, completely ignoring the carnage around them. Not only that, but none of them made a move or attack on Lyra, Mando, the baby, or the droids within the group.
“Wha.. where are you going? Come back! I promise I’ll pay!”
"No money, no reason for any of us to stick around," Cad Bane sneered.
"Have fun dealing with the Galactic Alliance," Sugi snarked.
"Your betrayal is not acceptable," IG-88 droned.
"Sleemo," Embo snarled.
"I wouldn't try talking your way out of this one, Varan. The Jedi wins this one," Aurra chuckled.
"Pray they won't kill you," Bossk laughed.
"I have nothing clever, I'm just leaving with the crew," Dengar said, passing by.
Varan watched hopelessly as the bounty hunters just walked away from him, heading back to Sugi's ship to depart the planet. Now there was no chance of getting anymore help.
“Well now that they’re gone… I think it’s time we finish our little… chat,” Mando growled, cracking her knuckles.
“Mando, wait! I know he did horrible things, but we can’t stoop to his level!”
“Oh I could definitely stoop to his level,” Mando snarled as she got up in his face. Varan wasn’t sure what to expect until he felt a surge of electricity shock him until he dropped out of the commando droids arms and onto the ground, rendered unconscious. Lyra, once again, was surprised by this Mandalorian’s tactics; she honestly assumed he was about to have the death sentence, but no, he wasn’t given that end. She looked back at Lyra, smiling under the helmet. “But then again… I’m not a bad guy.”
--
Equestria
The home of the Equestrian Jedi temple; and a perfect place to go. The planet was lush and green, there were plenty of fun activities to do, and it was a perfect spot to make some new friends and allies.
A few Jedi were hanging around the landing zone, helping some visitors unload cargo and various supplies. A few of them were members of the Equestrian Jedi temple, like Master Sandalwood and Master Micro Chips. Some were Knights like Mystery Mint, Trixie Lulamoon, or Valhallen. Though they did get a few visits from Jedi over from Coruscant. Not many visited, but a few familiar faces came here and there; Kit Fisto, Plo Koon, Luminara Unduli, Aayla Secura, but most notably; Ahsoka Tano.
And their attention was drawn to the freighter that was coming in from the clouds down onto the platform. The legs unfolded and the ship gently hit the ground without a scratch. And the hatch opened up, making everyone curious as to who was inside. First to come out was Cheep and G-G, who just rolled out nice and smoothly. Right behind them was the hovering crib with the little baby inside, who just looked in awe at everything around her. Even at the new faces who looked at her.
"Hi there," Ahsoka smiled, hearing some adorable little noises come from the infant. She reached her finger out, lightly rubbing against her tummy. Flurry just giggled from the touch, playfully grabbing the Togruta's hand.
And coming down the hatch was Lyra Heartstrings and the Mandalorian warrior.
"Lyra, you're back," Sandalwood greeted.
"Master Sandalwood, good to see you," Lyra smiled, still keeping an arm underneath the Mandalorian to help her walk. She was mostly fine, but there was still some injuries that needed some medical attention.
"What happened?" Mystery Mint asked.
"Our little Storm Army friend here," Lyra said, looking back in the shuttle. The two functioning commando droids walked out, pushing an angry Varan out who just glared at them all, sulking. He didn't bother speaking another word, not that it would do him any good. "He wasted a lot of resources and killed my battalion and my friends trying to capture a Force-sensitive child."
"Um, what about--"
Lyra didn't understand, until she saw what they were looking at. "Ohhh, the commandos, don't worry. They're on our side, they've been reprogrammed. They actually helped me save my Mandalorian friend here."
"That's a relief," Ahsoka noted.
"We'll take him in for some questioning," Mystery nodded, joining Trixie as they took the commander away from the commando droids.
"And who is your Mandalorian friend here?" Ahsoka asked.
"Let's just call her Mando. She helped protect me from the bounty hunters, and I in return saved her from brutal torture from Varan. But I like to take her inside for some medical attention, she has some wounds needing to be treated," Lyra asked.
"Of course dude, come on!" Sandalwood said, leading the two of them into the temple.
Inside, the medical droid finished spraying the few more bits of the bacta spray. She had just gotten patched up, and somehow they managed to heal any head injuries (although she insisted they all look away or step out of the room so they couldn't see her face). They wrapped some bandages around her stomach and her arm, and she was more than okay to stand up again.
"Thanks for the patch-up. How much do I owe you guys?" Mando asked, looking over to some of the Jedi nearby.
"You don't worry about a thing, it's taken care of. Now was there anything else that you need from us, or would like?" Octavia asked.
"Well... there was something I've been meaning to do."
Two hours later
The Mandalorian banged her head against the table a few times in frustration. So much paperwork, so much to do, how was it this hard? Thankfully she only had a few more things left to go, and she would be complete!
One final signature added, and she checked the final few boxes before turning in the paperwork to the right desk. The droid on the other side of the desk analyzed the signed papers, running them through the computers.
"You are now an official member of the Republic," the droid concluded.
"Thank you, sheesh. I thought that would take forever," Mando shook her head.
"Well it's done now, isn't it?"
"Yeah, but there's still one more thing I want to do..."
--
A blacksmith, in charge of melding and processing metal parts and pieces got to work on molding a piece of armor within the shop, molding two new shoulder pauldrons for the Mandalorian. One more mold was done, and the two pieces were completed.
The blacksmith carefully applied the pieces onto her shoulders, making sure they clicked with her clothes.
"I thank you for your services," the Mandalorian said, passing the blacksmith some credits to pay for her work.
"Thanks," she said, giving her a nod.
"Are you done now?" Lyra asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"Yes, I am done now. Come on," the Mandalorian lightly chuckled as she walked with Lyra out of the blacksmith's shop. The two of them walked back out to the landing zone where the droids were waiting. Thankfully IG-11 kept the baby safe in his arms, cradling her safely. And she didn't seem to have too much of a problem with the big droid holding her.
"Alright everybody, I'm done. Ready to go?"
Everyone gave their yes's and walked back into the ship. IG-11 carefully passed the baby back off to Lyra and followed the others back inside. Carefully she held her in her arms, smiling down at the little bundle of joy. She knew for a fact this little girl was going to be a great Jedi one day.
"Come on, let's go," Mando said, urging Lyra to come on inside.
Lyra looked at some of the other Jedi, giving a brief wave at them before she set off into the ship. Sandalwood, Ahsoka, and many others waved back, watching the ship take off from the platform. The ship's engines let out a burst of flame and it thrust into the atmosphere, taking off for another space trip.
“How’s the baby?” Lyra asked, walking into the cockpit.
“The little powerhouse is finally asleep,” the Mandalorian said, looking at Flurry Heart now asleep in her hovering crib. “Hopefully she won’t be causing any more disturbances.”
Lyra smiled. “That’s good. So, where do you wanna go now?"
Mando flipped a few switches. "How about Coruscant? I don't know about you, but ate a light lunch. How about we go eat at Dexter's Diner?"
The Jedi nodded. "I would love that."
Mando activated the controls, prepping the jump for hyperspace. The final lever was pulled, and the engines began to charge up, and the countdown began to start. She spun around in the chair, facing Lyra. Sitting up straight, looking her dead in the eyes.
"Lyra?"
"Yes?" Lyra acknowledged, giving her equal attention.
"Since I am now one of you... and because you saved my life, I owe you mine."
Lyra smiled. "Mando, I was just doing what is right, that's it. You were captured, I needed to rescue you. And after everything you did to keep me and the baby safe, I had to."
"And I love that. But there's something else. This symbol here, that I insisted on being engraved on my shoulder piece?" The Mandalorian said, making her shoulder armor piece stick out so Lyra could see it, showing a new logo. "This means 'clan of three'. Which means, you and the baby are a part of my clan... and my family."
Lyra felt her heart skip a beat. "I... I am?"
"You are."
The Mandalorian's hands went up and stroked Lyra's face, wiping a small tear of joy from her eye as she looked at her.
"Mando, I... I don't know what to--"
The bounty hunter’s finger went over her lips, and Lyra went quiet. The bounty hunter's hands went up and grabbed the sides of her helmet, slowly pulling it off her head. Underneath that helmet was a girl with pale yellow skin, blue eyes, and two-toned dark blue and pink hair which poofed back up now that it was out in the open air.
Lyra was speechless. "Huh... you're a lot cuter than I thought you'd be." Lyra then smiled adorably. "I like it."
The bounty hunter smiled back at her. “Bon Bon.”
“I’m sorry?”
“You asked me my name… it’s Bon Bon.”
The Jedi’s eyes sparkled. “I really like that name.”
Her hand intertwined with Bon Bon’s, and Bon Bon returned, locking her fingers with hers. And she didn’t want to let go of her hand. And as the two looked in each other's eyes, the ship finished prepping the engines and jumped for hyperspace, on the way to Coruscant...
The Mandalorian was stressed to the bone. She promised to take the shift for baby Flurry so Lyra could finally get some much needed rest, but as expected, she was still new to parenting. Taking care of a living baby wasn't the same as keeping a programmed robot together. The waking up in the middle of the night, the constant feeding, burping, and whatever needed to take care of a child was an entirely new experience to her. The baby had unfortunately been restless these past few nights.
However, Bon Bon made a promise to look after her, and she was going to live up to that promise. And that was starting with trying to get this little muffin to go to sleep. ... This screaming, cranky, very loud muffin.
"Flurry, come on... come on, what do I have to do to get you to fall asleep?" Bon Bon worried. She felt the top of her head, noticing she was feeling a little warmer than usual. "Are you hot? Is that the problem? Wait... do you feel sick? Hold on, I'll go get the medicine!"
Bon Bon ran down the ladder and into the bathroom space, looking for meds. She knew they were hidden somewhere, she needed them fast! Thankfully it wasn't that hard to find and quickly grabbed that and a spoon. She ran back up the cockpit, hearing the infant still crying. She poured some onto the spoon, moving towards the baby. As expected, she was met with resistance as she kept trying to dodge it, batting away from her face.
"Flurry, please! I just want you to feel better! Please just take the medicine... You know I would never hurt you, sweetie, just please take the medicine..." Bon Bon was slowly starting to break. This was impossible! How did Lyra ever deal with this on her own!?
Her eyes watered up and she let her head slowly drop, resting it on the edge of the crib. Flurry did take notice of her second mama clearly upset, and she stopped resisting. She took the spoon from her, sucking down the medicine and swallowing. She coughed mildly, mainly disgusted with the taste. A whole new flavor that she wasn't used to. But something happened. She stopped crying. She didn't feel too hot or sick anymore.
Bon Bon took notice of this and raised her head up, seeing her child no longer crying and in pain. She looked happy again. And using her strength, she pulled herself up and waddled as close to her mama as she could, insisting on being picked up. Bon Bon sniffled a little, her eyes watering only with joy that her child was no longer in pain. She picked her up, and held her close to her chest to hug her.
"I promised I'd keep you safe... I always will," Bon Bon said, kissing her forehead. Flurry looked up at her, and lightly brushed her hands against her mother's face, wiping her tears away and nuzzled her.
"Think you can get some sleep now?"
The baby nodded.
And so Bon Bon carefully put Flurry back in her crib, covering her with her blanket again, and giving her plushie back to her so she could sleep again.
"Goodnight sweetie. Sleep tight."
The Mandalorian's bare hand petted Flurry's head, and smiled as she finally went to sleep. For the past few months, she had been living with her and Lyra, and admittedly, it wasn't easy living with the two of them. Both of them had their own habits and routines which did make things a bit flipped for her, but Bon Bon found a way to adapt. Now that she was asleep, she could direct her focus back to flying the ship to their current destination. They were setting off to Naboo for a little vacation; something Lyra desperately needed. She had been dealing with some massive amount of stress lately, and Bon Bon was hoping this vacation would do the trick and help her relax so she could clear her brain.
"Finally, some peace and quiet. Now maybe I can get this ship there in one piece..."
Her hands stayed on the controls as she sat there, staring out into the empty abyss of space. She followed the coordinates on the radar system, taking the direct path to where Naboo would be. She would be there soon enough and then maybe she could finally... rest...
Bon Bon's eyes slowly closed as she sat there in the seat, and started snoring softly. She didn't even think about a thing in the world, other than escaping into the realm of dreamland. Thinking of some happy times that always made her feel so warm and fuzzy. Taking Lyra out into the open grasslands on Naboo, going swimming in the crystal wars, tropical sunshine... and getting to hold Lyra as they sat together in the warm glow of the sunset on a nice summer evening--
The control panel beeped, setting off an alarm which broke Bon Bon from her slumber.
"Hmm, what? No! No! No, no, no!"
A lot of loud noises erupted from the alarms and she pressed as many as she could, trying to keep it all quiet so no noises disturbed the baby.
"Shh, shh, shhh!" Bon Bon hesitantly turned around, praying that the baby didn't wake up. She did not need this right now. "Whew. Thank God." Turning around, she flipped the guidance controls back to normal. "What was that all about?"
And things only got worse when suddenly a voice spoke through the com system.
"Mandalorian, it is time... for your death!"
A Mikkian woman with a deranged face and a crazy amount of cybernetic parts all over her body was in the control chair of a Correlian freighter. She fired multiple blaster shots towards the Sweetie Drop like a psycho, relentlessly firing at her.
"Oh come on, you gotta be kidding me!" Bon Bon yelled, feeling the ship shake and vibrate, now turned to rumbling thanks to the laser blasts. Her body was now thrashing violently against her chair, feeling like she was about to be thrown right out of it. "Is it possible for us to reschedule, I just caught a break!"
"You have taken innocent droids! It is time I liberate them from your fleshy hands!"
"You have flesh, you nimrod!"
Another round of lasers fired at the back of her ship, sending more erupting tremors on board the freighter. Bon Bon prayed to all gods that the baby wasn't going to wake up, but she knew she was tempting fate. "Morag, I respect what you're trying to do, but this is reaaaaallly not a good time. Can you please come back later? And I've made it clear time and time again, I give my droids free will, they chose to come with me, I didn't program them!"
"You've had your chance, Mandalorian. And you prove to me you will keep my robotic kind under your terrorist skin!"
"That is a huge insult to my people!" Bon Bon yelled back. "... And again, you're flesh! I think someone's had way too many death sticks."
This time, the next set of blasts really did the job. The baby finally heard the sounds, and she burst out crying and whimpering at the loud sounds. Bon Bon's heart snapped when she saw the baby crying, but something else inside woke up. Something angry and powerful.
"Errrrghhh, that's it! I don't care, I have had it up to HERE with people startling me, startling my girlfriend, and startling my girlfriend's baby!" Bon Bon snarled, yanking a lever down on her ship.
The freighter halted in place, letting the Correlian freighter zoom right above her, completely missing her. Then, thrusting the engines, Bon Bon targeted all of the guns to focus on the freighter with fire in her eyes, blood boiling, and nothing but pure unbridled rage.
"Nothing personal Morag..." Bon Bon growled, locking on target, "but you woke the baby."
