Calamity || The Mandalorian

eighteen

The walker gave a small rumbling noise before suddenly admitting a floodlight intended to pinpoint their location and give it something to shoot at.

"Get down!" Kasia yelled, falling lower in her crouch as she kept her blasters pointed at the mech in front of her. "Get down!"

Agonizingly slow, the AT-ST rotated, the light it was shining illuminating all that was directly in front of it. And while most of the farmers had listened to her command, there were some who either hadn't heard it or had simply chosen to ignore it.

Kasia sucked in a breath as the AT-ST stopped moving, its light shining directly on a couple villagers who hadn't hidden when she had ordered them to. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, all of a sudden, the AT-ST fired, plasma barely missing the farmers as it flew over their heads and blew up a house behind them.

As the hut erupted in flame, Kasia sucked in a breath, her body tensing as she resisted the urge to jump to her feet. The child...

He's on the other side of the village, Mando's voice suddenly spoke up in her mind. How he had known that that was what she was worried about... she honestly didn't know. I made sure with Omera that he and the other children would be as far from the fighting as possible.

At the words, Kasia loosed a breath, some of the tension lifting from her figure.

Around her, Cara barked orders, commanding everyone to hold their positions. And to Kasia's surprise... they were doing it. These farmers were certainly not the best fighters—but they were brave. And they loved their home very deeply.

Then she heard the Klatooinians, screaming and hollering as they emerged from the forest behind the AT-ST, weapons hefted and out for blood.

"Open fire!" Cara yelled.

Not needing to be told twice, Kasia began shooting with deadly precision, taking out as many of the raiders as she could. From her side, she could feel Mando doing the same, his rifle once again disintegrating any who were unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of its blast. Gods, she really needed to get one of those.

But Mando and Kasia weren't the only one taking out raiders—all around them in fact, the villagers fired their blasters, curtesy of Mando's small artillery. Their shots were nowhere near as accurate as Kasia, Mando, Cara, or even Omera's (damn that woman could shoot) but they were shooting, and they were taking down Klatooinians.

Still, Kasia knew that though they posed a threat, the Klatooinians weren't the real problem. She could only watch as the AT-ST shifted its body slightly and blew up more of the small huts behind them.

Gods please let Mando be right. Please keep the child safe.

The AT-ST shot again, this blast much closer than all the prior ones. Instinctively, Kasia ducked her head and Mando shifted to shield her as a shower of sparks rained down upon them.

As they both shifted back to their prior positions—Mando putting a leveling hand on Kasia's shoulder to keep her from falling over—Kasia shook her head, "That was too damn close," she huffed.

Mando nodded, removing his hand and readjusting his grip on his rifle, "We gotta get that thing to step forward."

"I'm thinking," Cara panted from beside them.

Around them, the fight was taking a turn for the worse. While the farmers were able to handle the Klatooinians well enough one-on-one, the mech was easily turning the tide and inflicting chaos across the entire field.

Suddenly, an idea flashed in Kasia's mind. As usual it was a terrible, stupid, and dangerous plan. But it was a plan.

Eyes wide, she turned sharply towards Mando, "Give me the pulse rifle," she commanded, holding her hand out.