The Mandalorian's Bounties | Din Djarin

Chapter 12 | The Siege (Part 2)

"Empty base, huh?" He says. They exit the elevator and Din holds his hand out for Cordelia. She takes it and he tightens his grip, making sure she stays close.

"The reactor should be set in the heat shaft. If we drain the cooling lines, this whole base will go up in a matter of minutes." Greef explains, standing with the two as Cara walks near the edge.

"Look. It's a mint Trexler Marauder. Do you know how much we can get for this on the black market?" Mythrol says, looking at the covered vehicle.

"And it's gonna get vaporized like the rest of this base. Now, let's go." Din says. He leads the way with Cordelia at his side, the others following behind. They reach the doors and take cover on the sides as they open.

They head through the base to the control center, Cara quickly taking out the lone officer. Greef and Mythrol strip him of anything useful while Din turns off the cameras and looks for the heat shaft.

"I found the heat shaft. Let's go." He says once he's found it. They head out, Din leading the way. "The access corridor should be right past this junction." He explains. 

They near the corner and duck behind it as stormtroopers pass. Once they've gotten far enough, the group quietly makes their way towards the destination.

"There, Mythrol, slice that door." Din says once they reach it.

"Use the code cylinder." Greef says, passing him the tool he had taken from the officer. The door opens and they enter, peering down at the lava at the bottom.

"Whoa!" Mythrol says, nearing the edge. Din pushes him back when he gets too close.

"Yeah, 'whoa' is right." Greef says. He points to their right. "That's it. Get on the reactor controls, drain the coolant lines. We'll watch the doors." He says, pointing to the controls. To get to it, he has to cross a thin ledge over the lava.

"Me?" He asks, pointing to himself.

"Yes, you!" He responds.

"I'm afraid o' heights. And heat. And lava." He says. Cordelia rolls her eyes, moving past him to step onto the ledge.

"Delia!" Din calls, moving towards her. She ignores him and continues sliding along the ledge, moving out of his reach. He stands as close as possible to the ledge without stepping onto it, ready to grab her if anything happens.

"Careful, careful." Greef mutters as they watch her press the buttons on the controls. It beeps angrily at her.

"I need the cylinder." She says, gripping onto the panel as she turns towards her friends. Mythrol moves forward and Din takes it from him. He carefully leans forward as Cordelia does the same, passing the cylinder. Once she has it she gets back to work.

Alarms blare and the lava below bubbles as the coolant lines drain. Cordelia quickly and carefully makes her way back to the others and Din pulls her into his arms as soon as she's off the ledge.

"Don't scare me like that again." He mumbles. She smiles, pulling back to look up at him.

"We both know it's gonna happen again. Scaring each other is what we're best at." She says. He chuckles, shaking his head.

"Sorry to break this cute moment up, but we gotta go!" Greef interrupts. Din nods, taking Cordelia's hand and following the others.

"How long do we have?" Cara asks as they run down the halls.

"Ten minutes at the most." Greef answers. Din and Cordelia take the lead, turning the corner and stopping at the voices of stormtroopers. They talk of calling reinforcements and Din redirects the group.

The turn another corner and spot two Imperial scientists. The group begins firing as one of the scientists orders the other to destroy evidence. The scientists are quickly taken out and the group looks at the experiments in the wall.

"What the..." Greef says.

"I thought you said this was a forward operating base." Cara says.

"I thought it was." He replies.

"No, this isn't a military operation. This is a lab. We need to get into the system and figure out what's going on." She says.

"What about the reactor-" Mythrol says.

"Do it!" She orders. He nods and moves towards the station.

"I don't like this." Din says. Cordelia steps closer, looping her arm around his.

"I don't either." She says.

"Replicated the results of the subsequent trials, which also resulted in catastrophic failure." The hologram of Dr. Pershing says. At his voice, Din and Cordelia quickly turn. "There were promising effects for an entire fortnight, but then, sadly, the body rejected the blood. I highly doubt we'll find a donor with a higher M-count, though. I recommend that we suspend all experimentation. I fear that the volunteer will meet the same regrettable fate if we proceed with the transfusion. Unfortunately, we have exhausted our initial supply of blood. The Child is small, and I was only able to harvest a limited amount without killing him." 

As he spoke, the group moved until they surrounded the hologram. At the mention of the Child Cordelia tenses, tightening her grip on Din, who shares a look with Greef.

"If these experiments are to continue as requested, we would again require access to the donor. I will not disappoint you again, Moff Gideon." The hologram shuts off.

"This must be an old transmission. Moff Gideon is dead." Din says, trying to reassure both Cordelia and himself.

"No. This recording's three days old." Mythrol says. Cordelia squeezes her eyes shut, leaning her forhead against Din's pauldron.

"If Gideon's alive then..." He says. He's interrupted by stormtroopers in the doorway. They quickly fire at them, taking cover just as more round the corner. Once they're taken out Din backs towards the door.

"I need to get the Kid." He says. Cordelia nods.

"Jet back. It's faster. We'll meet you back in town." She says. He pulls her into a quick Keldabe Kiss before they head their separate ways.

Hey guys! I no longer have class on Wednesdays, so I think I might update both this story and Cordelia's then too!