The Space Between Us - The Mandalorian

Chapter 22

"Let's get one thing straight: You and I are nothing alike," Din told him. 

"I don't know, seems to me like your rules start to change when you get desperate. I mean, look at you, you said you couldn't  take your helmet off and now you've got a stormtrooper one on so what's the rule?"

"Just like you said, we're desperate," answered Aula. 

"Is it that you can't take off your Mando helmet, or you can't show your face? Cause there is a difference.  I'm just sayin', we're all the same. Everybody's got their lines they don't cross until things get messy. As far as I'm concerned, if you can make it through your day and still sleep at night, you're doing better than most."

Commotion over the radio caught their attention then. 

"Pirates."

"Pirates? Cool!" cried Aula.

"Not cool!" yelled Mayfeld as the truck ahead of them exploded. 

"Keep driving, we'll take care of it," said Din, opening fire with a blaster out the window. 

"Are you seriously firing a blaster near rhydonium?!"

"They're trying to blow the rhydonium."

"You think?! You should have left me in prison!"

Din climbed up onto the roof of the truck, Aula following. The pirates had leapt from their speeder and onto the truck.

Din slammed his head into one of the pirates, knocking him down.

Aula tried it as well.  "Hey! This head-butting works really well!"

The pirates sure were persistent. It was hard enough holding them back, let alone trying to keep them from using their explosives on the rhydonium. 

However, their disguises came with some perks.  TIE fighters and troopers from the base had come to their aid. 

"Never thought you'd be happy to see stormtroopers," Mayfeld said, saluting back.

Once inside, they were greeted with praise and cheers. 

"I can't believe they actually pulled it off," said a trooper.

"Neither can I," Aula mumbled.

"This way, trooper." It took her a moment to realize she was being addressed.  "That's an order, trooper. Move it."

"Right away, Sir." She saluted and followed, left with no other choice. She flashed Din and Mayfeld a look over her shoulder, not that they could see due to the helmet.

"We need inventory done on our current rhydonium stores," the trooper told her.  "Get counting."

"Yes, Sir..."

That was one hell of a lot of rhydonium.

And it would make one hell of a blast. 

Despite being separated from her companions, this could work out. 

And, this was a mining establishment...  Maybe not the one she had been enslaved in, but blowing it to hell could help set a lot of people free... 

She was going to need quite the blast for this to work.

The crystal.

It had taken out a good chunk of the marketplace last time, unintentionally, and she always kept it on her. 

"Please work," she mumbled. 

-------------------------------------

"It always ends in us shooting our way out!" she yelled, having rejoined the others, narrowly escaping on Boba's ship.  

"Well, looks like it's back to the scrap heap," said Mayfeld. 

"Thank you for helping," Din told him. 

"Yeah. Good luck getting your kid back."

"You know it's too bad Mayfeld didn't make it out alive back there," Cara said, turning to Din and Aula.

"Yeah, too bad."

"Yeah. You know, I had my doubts in the beginning, but he really came through in the end," Aula agreed. 

Mayfeld looked at them incredulously before fleeing. 

Back on board the ship, Din sent a transmission directly to Moff Gideon:

"Moff Gideon.  You have something I want. You may think you have some idea of what you are in possession of but you do not.  Soon, he will be back with me.  He means more to me than you will ever know."

(Some bittersweet news: I finally finished watching both seasons, I loved it, but I'm so sad it's over! I really hope there's another season!

On the bright side, now I can finish this story :) And don't worry, I will be taking this story beyond the storyline of the show, so there's still lots more to come! 

Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :))