Against the Odds

Chapter 10: The Change

The woman's dark eyes flicked uneasily towards the bounty hunter and his gang before centering on Lara and her crew again. "Lara, I'm sure you don't want these probably innocent people to pay for what you've done, so come along and I'll spare them," she said.

"Mando, give me the chip!" Dartrull demanded.

Vella frowned at the hunter, then turned to the Mandalorian. "You didn't give him the chip?" She asked him.

Din mumbled something she couldn't hear and looked to both attackers. "No, because it had weapon data on it, he was going to sell it to the highest bidder."

She sighed, that was why he was so angry earlier, he'd looked at the chip. First the job goes south, now this. They just couldn't catch a break could they.

Lara and Din sandwiched Vella and the child between their backs, the two had blasters in hand, ready to fire. Lara to whoever the woman was, and Din to the bounty hunter Dartrull and his crew. The child hummed and stared up at Vella. She put a hand on the back of his head and smiled, trying to give him some of her calmness.

"You've got to pay for what you did eventually, Lara," the woman snapped.

"Okay, who is this lady!" Vella asked, turning to look at the back of her daughter's head.

"Havora Wen, she was an old friend," the girl replied.

Havora scoffed and shook her blaster at her. "Until you stabbed me in the back!"

"You stabbed me!" Lara cried.

"Enough!" Dartrull interrupted, suddenly pointing one of his blasters at Havora, who did the same. "I just want my chip, Mando."

"You're not getting it," he replied, his voice low and gruff.

Vella slowly reached for her blaster under the cover of Din's body and pulled it from the holster on her thigh. No one moved, the first person to move would be the first person shot. So they all held their breath.

The sun was starting to set and the clouds had become thick. The temperature had dropped significantly, a brisk chill becoming a frigid cold. It wasn't safe to be out at night on a frozen planet. If the blasters didn't kill them, the climate would.

Din's eyes roamed from Dartrull to the bounty hunters before him, then to Havora. The woman looked restless, glancing between him and Lara anxiously. The Trandoshan was getting tired of waiting, his feet shifted and that caught the Mandalorian's eye. Instantly Din was sending two blasts, hitting someone in the shoulder and pushing the two women into the cover of the divider where their speeder bikes were parked.

The trio laid cover fire. They took out a few initially but as soon as their opponents dodged and took refuge they became harder targets.

Havora inched closer, using the cover of everyone's lasers to try and sneak up on them. Lara saw her first, but wasn't fast enough to dodge as the woman ran towards her and knocked them both to the ground beneath the cover of the Lodge's wall. Lara quickly jumped up and sent a punch towards her but the woman was slippery.

Vella heard them before she saw them, turning to see her daughter fighting. She stared in shock as she and the Mandalorian watched the two battle.

Din couldn't help but see Vella's fighting style in Lara, but also something else. She was more vicious, with harder, more forceful blows. Where Vella excelled in speed and agility, Lara had a sturdy, rocklike strength which wasn't like her mother.

"Don't come after me again," the girl demanded as she kicked Havora in the knee and knocked her down. She pointed the blaster at her and said something neither Mando, nor Vella could hear.