Safe & Sound {D.Djarin}

✭XXVIII✭

✦✦✦✦ Princess ✦✦✦✦

"Is there another way out?" Cara questions.

"No," Greef sighs looking around, "That's it."

"What about the sewers?" Mando questions.

Greef looks over at him, "Sewers?"

"The Mandalorians have a covert down in the sewers. If we can get down there, they can help us escape."

Cara nods, "Yeah, sewers are good!"

Mando turns, using his helmet to scan the room, "Checking for access points."

Cara looks back outside, rocking on her heels in anticipation, "What the hell are they waiting for?"

Kit's eyes widen as the Stormtroopers begin to set up a large weapon, "Holy Kriff," She swears looking to Cara to see if she sees it too, "They're setting up an E-Web."

"It's over."

Mando's visor reveals a sewage entrance point behind a bench and she walks over to it, "I found the sewer vent."

Cara follows him over as Greef and Kit keep an eye on the Troopers, "Let's get the hell outta here."

They rip the bench of the wall and try to pry the vent off the wall. They grunt as they step back, "It's assembled," Greef tells them, "How long until that thing's cleared?"

Cara looks to Mando, "Blow it."

"I'm out of charges."

"Get out of the way!" Cara yells as she begins to fire rapidly at the grate, panic taking over her.

"Your astute panic suggests that you understand your situation. I would prefer to avoid any further violence, and encourage a moment of consideration. Members of my escort have completed assembly of an E-Web heavy repeating blaster." The man yells from outside.

They all stop what they're doing and look to the man, "If you are unfamiliar with this weapon, I am sure that Republican Shock Trooper Carasynthia Dune of Alderaan will advise you that she has witnessed many of her ranks vaporize mid-descent facing the predecessor of this particular model."

Cara's eyes widen as she walks back to stand beside Kit, "Or perhaps the decommissioned Mandalorian hunter, Din Djarin, has heard the songs of the Siege of Mandalore, when gunships outfitted with similar ordnance laid waste to fields of Mandalorian recruits in The Night of a Thousand Tears."

Kit looks over at Mando- Din, who's staring right out at the man, "I advise disgraced Magistrate Greef Karga to search the wisdom of his years and urge you to lay down your arms and come outside."

They all look around at each other, apart from Din whose head tilts slightly as he stares at the man, "Or maybe Princess Kathleen Kryze of Mandalore can tell you all about how she once refused to lay down her weapons and cost her father's life."

"The structure you are trapped in will be razed in short order," He continues, "And your storied lives will come to an unceremonious end."

They all look at Kit, brows arched as they hear her title, "Told you I was a Mandalorian." She says simply, refusing to look over at Din.

"What do you propose?" Greef asks getting back on track.

"Reasonable negotiation." The man calls back.

"What assurance do you offer?"

"If you're asking if you can trust me...you cannot," He says simply, "Just as you betrayed our business arrangement, I would gladly break any promise and watch you die at my hand. The assurance I give is this: I will act in my own self-interest, which at this time involves your cooperation and benefit. I will give you until nightfall, and then I will have the E-Web cannon open fire."

The man turns and walks away as Greef looks at the others, "I say we hear him out."

"The minute we open that door, we're dead."

"We're dead if we don't. At least out there we've got a shot."

"That's easy for you to say. I'm a Rebel Shock Trooper, she's a rebellion General," She says gesturing to Kit, "They'll upload us to a Mind Flayer."

Greef scoffs, "Those aren't real. That was just wartime propaganda."

"Well, I don't care to find out. I'm shooting my way outta here."

"What about you, Mando?"

Din looks at them all, "I know who he is."

They all look to him waiting for him to continue, "It's Moff Gideon."

Kit shakes her head, "No. Moff Gideon was executed for war crimes."

"It's him. He knew my name."

"So? What does that prove?"

He sighs looking outside and then back at the again, "I haven't heard that name spoken since I was a child."

"On Mandalore?" Greef asks.

"I was not born on Mandalore."

"But you're a Mandalorian."

"Mandalorian isn't a race." Cara begins.

Din finishes for her, "It's a Creed."

Din sighs as he looks away from them, "I was a foundling. They raised me in the Fighting Corps. I was treated as one of their own. When I came of age, I was sworn to the Creed. The only record of my family name was in the registers of Mandalore. Moff Gideon was an ISB Officer during the purge. That's how I know it's him."

Cara looks up in realisation, "That's how he knows who we all are."

"He says he needs us, which means the Child got away safely. I was worried when the Ugnaught didn't respond, but if they'd captured the kid, we'd already be dead." Din says hopefully.

"Hail them again." Cara orders.

"Come in, Kuiil. Kuiil!" He sighs, "Nothing."

"They might have jammed the link."

Kit looks out at the many Stormtroopers, "Trust in the Force, Kathleen. Trust..."

Kit sighs shaking her head as she takes her weapon from Cara's belt, "Where are you going?"

"I have a form of negotiation for him." She says.

Din grabs her elbow as she passes him stopping her from leaving, "What are you doing?"

"Trust me."

"You're going to negotiate?" Greef questions.

She nods, "Aggressive negotiation."

They all look at her in confusion, "Which is...?"

"Negotiations, but with a lightsabre."

"A what-?" She takes her arm from Din's grip and leaves the tavern standing before the many Stormtroopers.

Moff Gideon turns when he hears her footsteps, he looks over at her, raising a brow, "That was a very nice speech." She says, hand tightening around her weapon.

Both Cara and Greef hold Din back as he tries to leave the cantina, "Trust her," Greef says, "I do."

"But you got something wrong." She finishes.

"And what's that?" He calls back as he slowly walks towards her.

She grins slightly as she looks at him, "Yes, Duchess Satine Kryze is my mother," She nods remembering when she found out the information all those years ago, "But Kryze is not my name."

Her knuckles turn white from the grip she has on her weapon, "It's Kenobi, Kathleen Kenobi, and like my father before me," She flicks the switch and a large purple blade appears at her side, "I am a Jedi."